NOTABLE MOVES
As of Tue, Feb 12, 08:00 Singapore Time zone UTC+8
USDJPY, +0.53%, $110.39
EURUSD, -0.40%, $1.1279
GBPUSD, -0.56%, $1.2864
USDCAD, +0.13%, $1.3301
AUDUSD, -0.54%, $0.7063
NZDUSD, -0.34%, $0.6737
S&P500, +0.07%, 2,709.80
Nasdaq, +0.13%, 7,307.90
Nikkei Futures, +0.59%, 20,417.5
CURRENCY MARKET WRAP
- There were no prints out of the U.S.
- U.S. Treasuries finished the day on a lower note, pushing yields higher across the curve. The 2-yr yield increased two basis points to 2.48%, and the 10-yr yield increased three basis points to 2.66%. The U.S. Dollar Index rose 0.4% to 97.05, setting a new high for 2019. WTI crude lost -0.7% to $52.39/bbl.
- No prints were released from the Eurozone, but the softness in data is catching up to the Euro. Meanwhile low liquidity triggered a flash crash in the Swiss Franc at the start of the Asian trading session (Popped approx. 0.96% to a high of 1.0098 within 15 mins), but the currency recovered its losses just as quickly.
- The UK economy is slowing and the weakness is adding pressure on Sterling. GDP growth (GDP m/m at -0.4% vs 0.0% Exp) fell short of expectations, the trade deficit narrowed less than expected and industrial production (Manufacturing Production m/m at -0.7% vs 0.2% Exp) fell for the third straight month. Prime Minister May is set to present the progress that she has made to Parliament today and she could ask Parliament for more time. On Thursday, there will be a motion put forth for debate that would give MPs greater control of the Brexit process – none of this constitutes a vote but if May presents no meaningful updates and/or Parliament push to shift the process away from the government, Sterling will find itself in even more trouble
STOCK MARKET WRAP
- The S&P 500 increased 0.07% on Monday in a lackluster session. The major averages wavered around their flat lines throughout the day with investors preferring to wait and see for progress on U.S.-China trade talks. Stocks began the day modestly higher amid optimism surrounding U.S.-China trade talks, which resumed in Beijing on Monday. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will join in the the week-long round of negotiations on Thursday and Friday.
- The S&P 500 industrials (+0.6%) and energy (+0.5%) sectors outperformed the broader market. Conversely, the communication services (-0.6%), health care (-0.1%), and utilities (-0.1%) sectors were the lone groups to finish with losses.
BLOCKCHAIN & CRYPTOCURRENCY NEWS
IBM Blockchain Assists Groundwater Pilot in Drought-Prone California
IBM and two other organizations will marry blockchain and IoT to help manage groundwater usage in an “at-risk” Californian aquifer. IBM announced Friday that California’s Sacramento San Joaquin River Delta will be tracked in “real-time” through a joint effort between the Freshwater Trust, a U.S-based nonprofit working to preserve and restore freshwater ecosystems, and SweetSense, a provider of internet of things (IoT) sensors for the development sector. The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta covers 1,100 square miles and provides water to the San Francisco Bay Area and coastal and southern California. The project is being jointly funded by the Water Foundation and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and will also receive research support from the University of Colorado Boulder. IoT sensors will transmit water extraction data to satellites, after which it will be recorded on the IBM Blockchain Platform hosted in the IBM Cloud. It also uses smart contracts to automatically execute transactions when certain conditions are met.
US SEC Highlights Dedicated ICO Guide Amid Ongoing Regulatory Debate
U.S. regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reportedly reiterated guidelines on initial coin offerings (ICOs). A dedicated section of the regulator’s website now lists five aspects of ICOs the SEC considers essential, as well as a separate section for investors and market professionals. The five descriptive aspects listed appear to summarize the organization’s current perspective. These include confirmation a token issued in an ICO can be a security in need of registration with the SEC, regardless of how its issuer refers to it. The guide also makes familiar reference to risks involved for investors and asks them to do their own research before parting with any capital. Last week, SEC chairman Jay Clayton gave substantial testimony about ICOs as part of a hearing on cryptocurrency, similarly underscoring the need for investor protection. According to an SEC commissioner, Heister Peirce, the delay in establishing crypto regulation may allow more freedom for the industry to move on its own.
New Platform Enables Trades Across 200 Tools and Runs Educational Crypto Show
According to LH-Crypto, a cross-market platform, its service gives traders the opportunity to transact across a plethora of cryptocurrencies and 200 other financial instruments — including forex on fiat currencies, precious metals, shares and commodities. Its beta version also enables users to participate in margin trading — a feature that it says helps distinguish its ecosystem from crypto exchanges. Not without risks, margin trading via LH-Crypto can enable deals using sums 100 times larger than their account balance. Traders can receive funds in cryptocurrencies or fiat and if they top up their account using traditional currencies, this cash can be automatically converted into the crypto asset of their choosing. LH-Crypto offers MetaTrader 5 for free in three different ways. In addition to desktop software for crypto trading that can run on Windows and Linux operating systems, a web-based terminal enables users to trade on the browser of their choosing — Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Opera and Edge among them. Finally, a mobile-based trading platform geared toward professionals is available for iOS and Android users