NOTABLE MOVES
As of Sat, Feb 2, 08:00 Singapore Time zone UTC+8
USDJPY, +0.57%, $109.50
EURUSD, +0,09%, $1.1457
GBPUSD, -0.09%, $1.3090
USDCAD, -0.24%, $1.3092
AUDUSD, -0.28%, $0.7253
NZDUSD, -0.29%, $0.6898
S&P500, +0.09%, 2,706.53
Nasdaq, -0.25%, 7,263.87
Nikkei Futures, -0.14%, 20,720.0
CURRENCY MARKET WRAP
- January nonfarm payrolls increased by 304,000 (consensus 165,000), and the January ISM Manufacturing Index improved to 56.6% (consensus 54.1%) from 54.3% in December. The key takeaway from the January report is that, even with revisions that reduced total job gains in November and December by 70,000, job gains have averaged a solid 241,000 per month over the last three months, offering some data-based justification to think this economic expansion has more room to run with consumer spending providing support. The key takeaway from the ISM report is that the January increase was driven by solid growth in New Orders and Production, which suggests the U.S. manufacturing sector is holding up well despite concerns about the pace of global growth. Average Hourly Earnings m/m decreased to 0.1% (consensus 0.3%). Even though the labor market is on fire, wage growth is slowing and there’s a good chance of downward revisions next month.
- The strong jobs data sparked selling interest in the bond market, driving yields higher. The 2-yr yield rose four basis points to 2.50%, and the 10-yr yield rose six basis points to 2.69%.
STOCK MARKET WRAP
- Wall Street finished mixed on Friday, as investors digested better-than-expected economic data while shares of Amazon (AMZN 1626.23, -92.50, -5.4%) fell on disappointing guidance. Amazon reported fourth-quarter earnings of $6.04 a share on revenue of $72.4 billion. Analysts expected earnings of $5.65 a share on revenue of $71.88 billion, according to FactSet. It was the second consecutive holiday quarter that Amazon beat estimates, after not having done so since 2009. Amazon Web Services, though, continued to be Amazon’s profit and growth engine. The cloud-computing arm reported sales growth of 45%, to $7.43 billion from $5.11 billion, and operating income that increased 61%, to $2.18 billion from $1.35 billion.
- The S&P 500 added 0.09%, increasing its weekly gain to 1.6%. The S&P 500 energy (+1.8%), information technology (+0.6%), and financial (+0.5%) sectors outperformed the broader market. Conversely, the consumer discretionary (-1.8%) and real estate (-0.7%) sectors underperformed. The energy sector’s outsized gain was the result of higher oil prices ($55.28/bbl, +$1.51, +2.8%) and a positive reaction to earnings beats from Dow components Exxon Mobil (XOM 75.92, +2.64, +3.6%) and Chevron (CVX 118.37, +3.72, +3.2%). Fellow Dow component Merck (MRK 76.45, +2.02) rose 2.7% after it also beat earnings expectations.
BLOCKCHAIN & CRYPTOCURRENCY NEWS
US Securities Regulator Solicits Blockchain Analytics Companies for Data Review
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seeking sources for blockchain data and its analysis, a statement issued by the agency revealed on Jan. 31. According to the statement, the SEC is trying to find businesses able to provide blockchain data to support its risk monitoring and compliance enforcement activity, as well as inform the commission about digital assets. Last month, the agency announced that cryptocurrencies are one of the its top examination priorities for the current year.
Unconfirmed: CoinLab Increases Mt. Gox Claim from $75 Million to $16 Billion
Bitcoin business incubator CoinLab has reportedly filed a 1.7 trillion JPY ($16 billion) claim against the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox, according to an alleged photo of the filing document posted on Reddit on Feb. 1. As Cointelegraph reported in its Mt. Gox recap in March last year, in 2013, CoinLab, a former business partner of the exchange, sued the company for $75 million, claiming breach of contract. The contract stipulated that CoinLab would take over the American customers of Mt. Gox, but it never happened.
Bitcoin Futures Expired Last Week, Did It Affect $10 Billion Plunge of Crypto Markets?
On Jan. 29, the valuation of the crypto market plunged by more than $10 billion within a 48-hour period, from $121 billion to $111 billion. Major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) recorded losses in the range of 5 to 10 percent against the United States dollar, demonstrating poor momentum. Throughout the past several months, the cryptocurrency market has demonstrated volatility in a low price range, unable to break out of key resistance levels.