Market Drivers – US Session – 12 April

Mohamed Abdelhamid 13 April, 2022 2:23 am Commodities, Forex Market, Global Stock Market, Market Update

The US dollar shed ground ahead of the release of US inflation figures, later recovering somewhat to close the day unevenly. The dollar is stronger against the shared currency, as EUR/USD trades around 1.0830, not far from the year low at 1.0805.

Economic Data
The annual rate of US inflation, as per the Consumer Price Index (CPI), came in at 8.5% in March, slightly the median economist forecast for a reading of 8.4% and higher versus February’s YoY rate of 7.9%. The MoM rate of inflation according to the CPI came in at 1.2% MoM, in line with the median economist forecast for a reading of 1.2% and above versus February’s 0.8% MoM reading.

Other Developments
The GBP/USD pair battles around 1.3000, despite upbeat UK employment-related data. The ILO Unemployment Rate edged lower to 3.8% in the three months to February from 3.9% previously, slightly better than the 3.9% expected. Also, the Average Earnings Including Bonus rose by 5.4%, compared to 4.8% in January, as expected. Finally, the number of job vacancies in the UK from January to March 2022 increased to a new record of 1,288,000.

Commodity-linked currencies spent most of the day up against their American rival, trimming some gains ahead of the close as Wall Street was unable to hold on to early gains. US indexes edged modestly lower.

AUD/USD trades around 0.7450, partially helped by soaring gold prices, as the bright metal reached a fresh multi-week high of $1,978.59 a troy ounce.

USD/CAD stands at 1.2640, despite soaring oil prices. WTI trades above $100.00 a barrel after the OPEC cut this year’s oil demand growth and also its supply forecast. Oil suffered a short-lived knee-jerk after Iran’s supreme leader said that nuclear talks “are going well.” It is noteworthy that traders monitor the BoC’s rate decision on Wednesday.

Trading was sluggish in stock markets. Asian indexes edged lower, while European and US ones posted modest losses. Wall Street spent most of the day in the green after US inflation data proved less concerning than anticipated.

US government bond yields soared ahead of US data, later retreating. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note peaked at 2.836%, now standing at 2.72%.

The dismal mood was exacerbated by comments from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said that talks with Ukraine are at a dead-end, claiming that the latter has deviated from the agreements achieved at talks in Istanbul, Turkey.

Meanwhile, news coming from China raised a red flag. The country said that the latest coronavirus wave in Shanghai is not under effective control. Lockdowns continue in the country, and the world wonders whether a new, unknown strain will soon spur globally and how it could affect economic growth.