Equities rise ahead of US nonfarm payrolls data - 1.9.2023

The Dollar weakening has resumed today. The live dollar index data show the ICE US Dollar index, a measure of the dollar’s strength against a basket of six rival currencies, gained 0.6% on Thursday while the Department of Labor data showed the number of Americans who sought unemployment benefits over the last week was lower than the forecast while their number fell.

Both EUR/USD and GBP/USD reversed their climbing on Thursday while Eurostat reported euro area inflation remained unchanged from July at 5.3%. USD/JPY reversed its climbing yesterday while AUD/USD reversed its sliding with the yen higher against the Greenback currently and the Australian dollar lower.

US stock indexes futures are mixed currently as the yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes ticked up to 4.106%. The three main stock benchmarks ended mixed on Thursday in the range of -0.5% to 0.1% as data showed core personal consumption expenditures price index’s growth remained at 0.2% over month in July, in-line with expectations while consumer spending rose at 0.8% - the fastest pace in more than six months.

European stock indexes are higher currently after closing lower on Thursday. Asian stock indexes futures are mostly higher today with Japan’s Nikkei leading gains while China cut foreign exchange reserve requirements for local banks to release more dollars and buoy the yuan and announced more measures to support its housing market as Caixin survey showed Chinese factory activity unexpectedly grew in August.

Brent is advancing currently. Prices ended higher yesterday despite data showing US crude oil production rose 1.6% in June to 12.844 million barrels per day, its highest since February 2020. The US oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose 1% and is higher currently. Brent crude gained 1.2% to $86.86 a barrel on Thursday.