Gold and silver are mixed heading into the EU open

Gold and silver are trading mixed this morning with the yellow metal trading 0.29% down and silver moving 0.54% in the black. Gold has been impacted by some strength in the greenback today as the DXY trades 0.10% higher overnight. The US dollar is not up against all the major currencies with AUD, NZD and CAD all performing well.

After inheriting a positive close from the US, the Nikkei 225 (1.01%) and Shanghai Composite (0.51%) closed higher. Australia's ASX however struggled and fell 0.73% due to weaks in tech, financial, healthcare and property sectors.

The rest of the commodities complex struggled overnight as copper fell 1.32% and spot WTI dropped 0.67%.

Late during yesterday's session, the Fed kept rates and QE unchanged. There was no mention of SLR but the NY Fed RRP facility to $80 bln from $30 bln. Importantly, the dot plot still reflects no rate rises till the end of 2023. GDP and inflation forecasts were revised higher.

Overnight, Japanese media reported that the BOJ will widen its target yield band for 10 year JGBs to plus/minus 0.25%. This could be a reaction to the recent moves in the bond markets.

As the US and China meet in Alaska, US Sec State Blinken says China aggression poses challenge. China state TV says the country will not compromise with the US over sovereignty.

Australia February employment change rose a massive +88.7K (vs expected +30K) & the unemployment rate dropped to hit 5.8% (vs expected 6.3%).

Sticking with data, New Zealand GDP for Q4 2020 fell -1.0% q/q vs the expected reading of 0.2%.

Over in the Netherlands, PM Rutte looks likely to be returned for a fourth term but the results are not official yet.

Glencore have said that Mitsubishi are to acquire 30% stake in the Aurukun Bauxite project.

Looking ahead to the rest of the session highlights include CRBT, Norges Bank and BoE rate decisions, US initial jobless claims, Philly Fed data. We will also get comments from ECB's Lagarde, BoE's Bailey, ECB's Schnabel, ECB's de Guindos and ECB's McCaul.
 

By Rajan Dhall

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