The aftermath of the NFP number continues. The US economy shows robust employment growth, meaning there won't be a 50 bp rate cut, and the soft-landing narrative might actually unfold. Overnight, Asian stocks advanced, boosted by optimism about the health of the US economy. Oil drifted lower as traders weighed Israel’s potential retaliation against Iran for a missile attack last week, with President Joe Biden discouraging strikes on Tehran’s crude fields. US 10-year yields rose, hovering just shy of the key 4% threshold as investors trimmed bets on major Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts.
Looking ahead to the week in the US, we have the FOMC meeting minutes making headlines on Wednesday, and the US CPI inflation report will be released on Thursday. In the early hours tomorrow morning, there’s the RBNZ Rate Announcement, where markets largely expect the central bank to reduce its official cash rate (OCR) by 50 bps. We will also receive the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) meeting minutes. In Europe, the ECB meeting minutes are released on Thursday, and domestically, we will see UK Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures on Friday, where 'growth' is a key focus.
In other markets, Bitcoin rose 1.3% to $63,439.99, Ether rose 1.9% to $2,485.2, and spot gold fell 0.3% to $2,646.46 an ounce. For today, ECB President Christine Lagarde will participate in the Eurozone Finance Ministers meeting in Luxembourg, and in the US, we will hear from Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic, St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem, and Fed Board member Michele Bowman. Will they give clues to policymakers’ thinking? Have a good day, and have a good week.
