NOTABLE MOVES
As of Thu, Feb 28, Singapore Time zone UTC+8
USDJPY, +0.36%, $110.86
EURUSD, -0.07%, $1.1379
GBPUSD, +0.50%, $1.3318
USDCAD, -0.20%, $1.3143
AUDUSD, -0.56%, $0.7148
NZDUSD, -0.53%, $0.6852
S&P500, -0.05%, 2,792.38
Nasdaq, +0.11%, 7,554.51
Nikkei Futures, +0.27%, 21,538.0
CURRENCY MARKET WRAP
- Particular attention during the U.S. session was placed on congressional testimony from Fed Chair Jerome Powell, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, and Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen.
- Powell in his semi-annual monetary policy acknowledged the Fed is close to agreeing on a plan to end the balance sheet runoff. USTR Lighthizer said that it is too early to predict the outcome of the U.S.-China trade negotiations. The views expressed by Cohen before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform ultimately had little, if any, impact on the market.
- Trump began a two-day meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam, hoping to take steps toward denuclearizing North Korea. Separately, Pakistan shot down two Indian fighter jets over their contested border, escalating tensions between the two countries.
- U.S. Treasuries were under pressure, driving yields higher in a curve-steepening trade. The 2-yr yield increased three basis points to 2.51%, and the 10-yr yield increased six basis points to 2.69%. The U.S. Dollar Index increased 0.2% to 96.15. WTI crude rose 2.4% to $56.94/bbl following some bullish inventory data.
STOCK MARKET WRAP
- The S&P 500 lost -0.05% on Wednesday as investors weighed a handful of headlines on the political, monetary, and geopolitical fronts, as well as the latest batch of earnings reports.The benchmark index was down as much as -0.7% in early trading action but climbed back to its flat line in the afternoon, where it faced some continued resistance near the 2800 level.
- The outperformance from retail stocks supported an intraday rebound. Better-than-expected results from Lowe’s (LOW 107.62, +2.59, +2.5%), TJX (TJX 51.56, +1.84, +3.7%), and Best Buy (BBY 68.82, +8.51, +14.1%) sparked a retail rally, evidenced by the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 46.08, +0.46) gaining 1.0%. On the other hand, disappointing earnings and/or guidance from several companies, including Weight Watchers (WTW 19.37, -10.20, -35.5%) and Mylan N.V. (MYL 26.01, -4.61, -15.1%), helped keep a lid on the broader market.