The strongest to weakest of the major currencies
The EUR is the strongest and the and the AUD is the weakest as the North American session begins. The bond market has calmed down after first Brainard’s hawkish comments on Tuesday, and then the Fed minutes yesterday that indicated the Fed was closer to raise about 50 basis points at the last meeting, and and the finger on the trigger for tapering at the next meeting by some $95 billion.
Meanwhile in China, lockdown has slowed their economy and that may lead to a easing of monetary policy. Shanghai remained under lockdown with a record 20,000 new infections reported despite the measures taken.
US stocks are mixed with the Dow down marginally and the NASDAQ up. The S&P is marginally higher.
US yields are mixed with the yield curve steepening up to 15 basis points in the 2 – 10 year spread. French issued a 10 year bond at 1.17% up from 0.52% last. French yields have been rising as Macron’s lead over Le Pen has narrowed. The 10 year spread between France and German yields has risen to as high as 55 basis points (currently at 53.6 basis points) from 40 basis points on March 30.
The Fedspeak will continue today with Feds Williams, Fed’s Evans and Feds Bostic oil scheduled to speak. It looks like Bullard may also be speaking today.
In Europe, German industrial production came in marginally higher at 0.2% versus 0.1% estimate. That is slower than the 1.4% in the prior month. EU retail sales came in weaker than expected 0.3% versus 0.6% estimate
The weekly initial claims data are expected to continue to show layoffs running near historically low levels at 200,000. The yield curve has yield curve has steepened trading
A snapshot of the markets as North American traders enter for the day shows:
Spot gold is trading up $7.30 or 0.38% at $1930.82
Spot silver is trading up five cents or 0.17% at $24.47
Spot crude oil is trading up to dollars and $0.38 or 2.46% at $98.58
Bitcoin is trading at $43,705 up about $500 on the day
The major US stock indices
Indices
Stock market indices represents an index that measures a particular stock market or a segment of the stock market. These instruments are important investors as they help compare current price levels with past prices to calculate market performance.The main two parameters for indices are that they are both investable and transparent. For example, investors can invest in a stock market index by buying an index fund, which is structured as either a mutual fund or an exchange-traded fund, and track an index. The difference between an index fund’s performance and the index, if any, is called tracking error. Most major countries boast multiple indices. Commonly traded indices include the S&P 500, NASDAQ-100, Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIJA), EURO STOXX 50, Hang Seng Index, and many more.Stock market indices can be characterized or segmented by the index coverage set of stocks. The overall coverage of an index constitutes an underlying group of stocks, most commonly grouped together by underlying investor demand.How to Trade IndicesRetail brokers offer indices exposure through the use of contracts-for-difference (CFDs) or exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Each are popular ways to trade specific markets and are almost always on offer at most brokers.Investors can choose between multiple types of indices that traditionally fall within several categories. This includes country coverage, regional coverage, global coverage, exchange-based coverage, and sector-based coverage.All indices are ultimately weighted in a number of different ways. The most common mechanisms include market-capitalization weighting, free-float adjusted market capitalization weighting, volatility weighting, price weighting, and others.
Stock market indices represents an index that measures a particular stock market or a segment of the stock market. These instruments are important investors as they help compare current price levels with past prices to calculate market performance.The main two parameters for indices are that they are both investable and transparent. For example, investors can invest in a stock market index by buying an index fund, which is structured as either a mutual fund or an exchange-traded fund, and track an index. The difference between an index fund’s performance and the index, if any, is called tracking error. Most major countries boast multiple indices. Commonly traded indices include the S&P 500, NASDAQ-100, Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIJA), EURO STOXX 50, Hang Seng Index, and many more.Stock market indices can be characterized or segmented by the index coverage set of stocks. The overall coverage of an index constitutes an underlying group of stocks, most commonly grouped together by underlying investor demand.How to Trade IndicesRetail brokers offer indices exposure through the use of contracts-for-difference (CFDs) or exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Each are popular ways to trade specific markets and are almost always on offer at most brokers.Investors can choose between multiple types of indices that traditionally fall within several categories. This includes country coverage, regional coverage, global coverage, exchange-based coverage, and sector-based coverage.All indices are ultimately weighted in a number of different ways. The most common mechanisms include market-capitalization weighting, free-float adjusted market capitalization weighting, volatility weighting, price weighting, and others.
Read this Term down for 2 consecutive days, In the premarket today, the indices are mixed with the Dow down marginally, the NASDAQ higher and the S&P marginally higher.
Dow industrial average down -35 points after yesterday’s -144.67 point decline
S&P index up five points after yesterday’s -43.95 point decline
NASDAQ
NASDAQ
The Nasdaq Stock Market or NASDAQ is an American stock exchange. It trails only the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in market capitalization and is part of a network of stock markets and options exchanges.Launched back in 1971, NASDAQ is the acronym for the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations. Since then it is known simply as NASDAQ and has become one of the most influential exchanges worldwide.The NASDAQ was the world’s first electronic stock market, and has since assumed the majority of major trades that had been executed by the over-the-counter (OTC) system of trading.What Makes Up the NASDAQ?In particular, the exchange also features the NASDAQ Composite, which includes almost all stocks listed on the NASDAQ stock market. Along with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIJA) and S&P 500 Index, this is one of the three most-followed stock market indices in the United States.Overall, the NASDAQ stock market has three different market tiers. This includes the Capital Market, or an equity market for companies that have relatively small levels of market capitalization. The listing requirements for small cap companies are less stringent than for other Nasdaq markets that list larger companies with significantly higher market capitalization.Additionally, the Global Market is made up of stocks that represent the Nasdaq Global Market. The Global Market consists of 1,450 stocks that meet the exchange’s financial and liquidity requirements, and corporate governance standards.Finally, the Global Select Market is a market capitalization-weighted index made up of 1,200 US-based and international stocks that represent the Global Select Market Composite.
The Nasdaq Stock Market or NASDAQ is an American stock exchange. It trails only the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in market capitalization and is part of a network of stock markets and options exchanges.Launched back in 1971, NASDAQ is the acronym for the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations. Since then it is known simply as NASDAQ and has become one of the most influential exchanges worldwide.The NASDAQ was the world’s first electronic stock market, and has since assumed the majority of major trades that had been executed by the over-the-counter (OTC) system of trading.What Makes Up the NASDAQ?In particular, the exchange also features the NASDAQ Composite, which includes almost all stocks listed on the NASDAQ stock market. Along with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIJA) and S&P 500 Index, this is one of the three most-followed stock market indices in the United States.Overall, the NASDAQ stock market has three different market tiers. This includes the Capital Market, or an equity market for companies that have relatively small levels of market capitalization. The listing requirements for small cap companies are less stringent than for other Nasdaq markets that list larger companies with significantly higher market capitalization.Additionally, the Global Market is made up of stocks that represent the Nasdaq Global Market. The Global Market consists of 1,450 stocks that meet the exchange’s financial and liquidity requirements, and corporate governance standards.Finally, the Global Select Market is a market capitalization-weighted index made up of 1,200 US-based and international stocks that represent the Global Select Market Composite.
Read this Term index is up 45 points after yesterday’s -315.35 point decline
In the European equity markets, the major indices are rebounding. The UK FTSE is down marginally
German DAX, up 0.5%
France’s CAC, up 0.7%
UK’s FTSE 100 down -0.1%
Spain’s Ibex, up 1.2%
Italy’s FTSE MIB up 1.0%
In the US debt market, US yields are mixed. The yield curve have seen a steepening of late. The 2-10 year spread is back up to 15 basis points after trading as inverted at -8.6 basis points just a few days ago.
US yields are mixed
In the European debt market, the benchmark 10 year yields are mostly higher
The benchmark European 10 year yields
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