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Gold and silver are once again mixed at the EU open. Gold has pushed 0.10% higher to tra7371.de near $1807/oz while silver is trading just under flat.
It was a wild session in the indices in the US as the tree majors (Nasdaq/S&P/Dow) pushed lower throughout the day and the Dow and S&P managed to close positive by the close. No such luck for the bourses in the Asia Pac area as the Nikkei (-1.61%), ASX (0.90%) and Shanghai Composite (-1.99%) all moved sharply lower.
In FX markets, GBP and NZD once again reigned supreme. GBP/USD was at one point trading as high as 1.4243 but starts the EU session at 1.4170 still 0.47% in the black. NZD/USD is 0.45% higher at 0.7371.
Copper is down for once trading at a lofty $4.17/lb and spot WTI has moved 0.42% higher to trade at $61.44/bbl not far from yesterday's highs of $62.97/bbl.
In terms of news overnight, China's MOFCOM has said that they are ready to enhance economic exchanges with the US. There has been lots of positive rhetoric from MOFCOM who seem to be looking to patch up the relationship with the US now that Joe Biden is in office.
Foreign ministers of France, Germany and the UK have released a joint statement regarding Iran. They say we deeply regret that Iran has started, as of today, to suspend additional protocol and transparency measures under Jcpoa.
German GDP Q/Q for Q4 printed at 0.3% to beat estimates of 0.1%.
The RBNZ left rates unchanged as expected overnight. The committee agreed that it was prepared to lower the OCR to provide additional stimulus if required. Governor Orr also stated says wants to retain all options for stimulus.
Over in the US, The US House will vote on Biden's coronavirus economic stimulus bill on Friday.
AstraZeneca tells EU it expects to deliver less than half the COVID-19 vaccines it was contracted to supply in Q2. There have already been issues with the current amount of supply the EU has received from the firm.
Japan finance minister Aso says the government is not considering further fresh economic stimulus. In the UK, the government are still easing as UK Chancellor is said to be preparing to extend the stamp duty holiday to the end of June.
Hong Kong announced it will increase stamp duty for stock trading to 0.13% from 0.10%.
Looking ahead to the rest of the session highlights include US new home sales, weekly DoE's and comments from Fed Chair Powell, BoE's Haldane, Haskel, Vlieghe, Broadbent, Fed's Brainard and Clarida.
By Rajan Dhall
For Kitco News
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