Check out all the big news you should know for today’s trading in global financial markets. Crypto's continue to recover, the USD remains near three year lows, U.S. stocks set to open higher. This will help you understand what to look for and where to invest. For more information talk to our chat agents.
1. Dollar remains near 3-year lows
The dollar hovered near a three-year low against major rivals on Friday as fears of a possible U.S. government shutdown added to underlying weakness that stems from the growing trend toward monetary policy normalization around the world.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill on Thursday to fund government operations through February 16 and avoid agency shutdowns this weekend when existing allocations expire, but President Donald Trump’s insistence that an extension of funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), a Democratic priority may have complicated its passage in the Senate.
At 11:01 GMT, the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.22% at 90.11, moving closer to Wednesday's three-year trough of 89.97. It is down around 2% so far in 2018.
2. Wall Street set to open higher
U.S. stocks looked set Friday to bounce back from the prior session’s losses as market participants kept an eye on developments in the wrangling over the extension of funding to avoid a government shutdown this weekend.
Investors will also pay attention to the preliminary release of the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index for January out at 15:00 GMT.
At 11:03 GMT Friday, the blue-chip Dow futures rose 87 points, or 0.34%, S&P 500 futures advanced 8 points, or 0.30%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures gained 31 points, or 0.46%.
Elsewhere, European bourses also gained as traders focused on a fresh round of corporate earnings reports.
Earlier, Asian shares closed higher as optimism over the global economic growth outlook and improved corporate earnings continued to support the rally at the start of 2018. Further supporting economic confidence was data on Thursday that showed China's growth in 2017 accelerated for the first time in seven years.
3. Cryptocurrency recovers from sharp selloff
After a massive selloff this week under the ongoing threat of regulation in the crypto-industry after China and South Korea were recently reported to be preparing a set of regulatory measures aimed at curbing or even banning cryptocurrency-related activities, the altcoins staged a broad-based recovery on Friday.
Despite the potential of a ban, investors returned to the market as the total cryptocurrency market cap rose more than 20% to nearly $600 billion from a low of around $478 billion on Wednesday, triggering a rebound in both large cap coins and smaller “altcoins.”
Bitcoin was trading at $11,651 by 11:05 GMT on the Bitfinex exchange, up 3.5%.
Ethereum, the world’s second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, was last up 5.5% at $1,060.00 on the Bitfinex exchange.
Meanwhile, Ripple's XRP token jumped nearly 15% to $1.638.21 on the Poloniex exchange.
4. U.S. 10-year yield highest since 2014
The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury hit its highest level in more than three years on Friday as the selloff in global bond markets continued. Bond yields move inversely to prices.
Investors are speculating that global central banks are embarking on a solid move to remove ultra-loose monetary policies with the Federal Reserve projecting to raise interest rates three times this year.
Moreover, market participants are positioning ahead of government debt issuance that will likely be needed if U.S. President Donald Trump’s follows through on his massive infrastructure plan.
At 10:59 GMT, the 10-year yield rose around 0.7% to 2.630%, close to an intraday high of 2.642%, not seen since September 2014.
