Traders on Thursday will have two big events to focus on. The ECB will hold its rate decision meeting followed by Mario Draghi’s press conference which also sparks volatility. And not long after from the US we will have initial jobless claim also. The US earnings calendar is packed full today.
- Oil and GOLD: US weekly oil inventories surprised markets yesterday afternoon, helping oil prices to continue their artificial gains on the back of the Kuwait production strike .The unsuccessful DOHA meeting seems to be a thing of the past but not for long. WTI prices have surged to trade at 43.86 and Brent oil is headed towards the 46.00 price level. Gold reverses its losses in the morning session trading at 1258.60 at time of writing .The uncertainty over US monetary policy, coupled with negative bond yields and the risk of deflation in Europe and Japan, has underpinned the strength of bullion.
- Stocks: Risk appetite continues today with Nikkei trading up 2.70% at the time of writing. That follows strength in US where DJIA closed up 42.67 pts or 0.24% at 18096.27, at highest since last July. While the S&P 500 only added 0.1% overnight, the total return measure of the index broke to its highest level ever. The ASX finally closed above 5200 for the first time since 4 January, and the next key level in its sights if this momentum continues would be the 5300 level.
- Currencies: Canadian dollar is leading other commodity currencies higher for the week. Meanwhile, Yen, Swiss Franc and Dollar are the weakest so far. But it should be noted that Euro is clearly lower against Dollar since yesterday as markets await ECB meeting.
