Marketwatch North America

Daily Insights
March 25, 2024

The economic data calendar is full this week with the primary focus on Thursday’s quarterly Core PCE (consumer personal consumption expenditures) Price Index and Friday’s M/M and Y/Y PCE Core Deflators. Personal consumption expenditures are watched closely by the Fed as a key read on inflation and will weigh on the direction of rate policy so traders will be paying attention.

Other data includes today’s New Home Sales for February (est. 677k), Tuesday’s Durable Goods Orders (est. +1.0%, -6.2% previous) and Consumer Confidence, Wednesday’s Mortgage Applications for the week ending Mar 22nd, Thursday’s Q/Q Annualized GDP and Initial Jobless Claims, and Friday’s Personal Income and Personal Sending for February.

The U.S. dollar index is -0.19% on an intraday basis but +0.22% compared to Friday’s close. The dollar is lower against 9/10 of the G10 pairs in minor net moves: -0.33% vs. GBP, -0.31% vs. AUD, -0.22% vs. EUR, -0.17% vs. JPY and -0.13% vs. CAD.

The Bank of Japan delivered a warning about speculative short yen trades which have recently weakened the JPY to near 2022 levels. Vice Finance Minister Kanda stated that the yen’s recent weakness is not in line with fundamentals and that the BoJ was prepared to take action (direct intervention) against excessive fluctuations. The BoJ last intervened in 2022 after the USD/JPY reached 151.95.

Global Equity indexes are almost universally lower today. Nasdaq100 futures are -0.54% S&P500 futures are -0.30%. Gold is +0.55% at $2,176.21, within range of last Thursday’s all-time-high at $2,217.79.

Economic Calendar

:
USD - FOMC Member Bostic Speaks
:
GBP - CBI Realized Sales
:
USD - New Home Sales
:
GBP - MPC Member Mann Speaks
:
USD - FOMC Member Cook Speaks
:
AUD - Westpac Consumer Sentiment
:
JPY - SPPI y/y

Market Indicators

Currency Pairs
Pair High Low
usd/jpy 151.439 151.048
eur/usd 1.08356 1.08009
gbp/usd 1.26467 1.25844
aud/usd 0.65439 0.651
usd/cad 1.36139 1.3582
eur/gbp 0.85846 0.85602
usd/mxn 16.7682 16.6765
Equities and Commodities
S&P 500 5227.38
NASDAQ 18274.7
DOW 39472.5
GOLD 2174.64
SILVER 24.74

This document is for information purposes only and does not constitute any recommendation or solicitation to any person to enter into any transaction or adopt any trading strategy, nor does it constitute any prediction of likely future movements in exchange rates or prices or any representation that any such future movements will not exceed those shown on any illustration. All exchange rates and figures appearing are for illustrative purposes only. You are advised to make your own independent judgment with respect to any matter contained herein.