The JPY is the strongest and the AUD is the weakest as the NA session begins

The JPY is the strongest and the AUD is the weakest as the North American session begins. The USD is higher with gains vs all the major currencies with declines vs the JPY and CHF.

Overnight, Bank of Japan Governor Ueda stated that if underlying inflation moves as projected, the Bank will adjust monetary support accordingly. Changes in economic and price projections or risk assessments could also lead to interest rate adjustments. The policy goal remains price stability, not funding fiscal spending, and the market will primarily set long-term interest rates. The current pace of Japanese Government Bond buying is maintained to avoid disruptions, with readiness for agile market operations if long-term rates sharply rise. There was another report that the BOJ was mulling bond purchases as early as June meeting. The USDJPY is lower (higher JPY).

Today in the US, the JOLTs job openings for April will be released with expectations of 8.355M versus 8.488 million last month. Although, there is chatter of the job market remaining solid, the trend in the JOLTs job openings, is to the downside. The US jobs report will be released on Friday with expectations of about 185K with the employment rate at 3.9%.

US factory orders for April will also be released at 10 AM ET with expectations of 0.6% versus 0.8% last month. Durable goods orders preliminary data showed a 0.7% gain when released on May 24. That data will be revised up (or not). Ex defense it rose 0.0%. Ex- transportation it rose 0.5%.

Crude oil is lower once again after the OPEC+, on Sunday agreed to extend most of their oil output cuts into 2025 but left room for voluntary cuts to be gradually unwound.

A snapshot of the other markets as the North American session begins shows

• Crude oil is trading down – $1.37 at $72.85. At this time yesterday, the price was at $77.10
• Gold is trading down $22.83 or -0.97% at $2327.50. At this time yesterday, the price was higher at $2329.75
• Silver is trading down $0.99 or -3.23% at $29.77. At this time yesterday, the price was at $30.34
• Bitcoin currently trades at $68,945. At this time yesterday, the price was trading at $69,017
• Ethereum is trading at $3759.40. At this time yesterday, the price trading at $3806.02

In the premarket, the snapshot of the major indices are lower after yesterday’s mixed results.

• Dow Industrial Average futures are implying a loss of -126.03 points. Yesterday, Dow Industrial Average fell -115.29 points or -0.30% at 38571.04
• S&P futures are implying a was of -16.15 points. Yesterday, the S&P index rose 5.91 points or 0.11% at 5283.41
• Nasdaq futures are implying a loss of -56.22 points. Yesterday, NASDAQ index rose 93.65 points or 0.86% at 16828.67

European stock indices are trading a today in the US morning snapshot:

• German DAX, -0.83%
• France CAC , -0.51%
• UK FTSE 100, -0.31%
• Spain’s Ibex, -0.93%
• Italy’s FTSE MIB, -0.75% (delayed 10 minutes).

Shares in the Asian Pacific markets were mixed:

• Japan’s Nikkei 225, -0.22%
• China’s Shanghai Composite Index, 0.41%
• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index, 0.22%
• Australia S&P/ASX index, -0.31%

Looking at the US debt market, yields are trading lower after yesterday’s sharp declines after weaker ISM data: at

• 2-year yield 4.805% -1.2 basis points. At this time yesterday, the yield was at 4.851%
• 5-year yield 4.401%, -1.6 basements at this time yesterday, the yield was at 4.473%
• 10-year yield 4.386%, -1.6 basis points. At this time yesterday, the yield was at 4.463%
• 30-year yield 4.536%, -1.3 basis points at this time yesterday, the yield was at 4.612%

Looking at the treasury yield curve the spreads are more negative versus yesterday at this time:

• The 2-10 year spread is at -41.8 basis points. At this time yesterday, the spread was at – 39.1 basis points.
• The 2-30 year spread is at -26.6 basis points. At this time yesterday, the spread was at – 24.1 basis points.

In the European debt market yields in the benchmark 10-year yields are trading lower:

This article was written by Greg Michalowski at www.forexlive.com.