- US January ISM manufacturing index 52.6 vs 48.5 expected
- January final US S&P Global manufacturing PMI 52.4 vs 51.9 prelim
- Fed’s Bostic: Inflation is to stay high and is a source of concern
- Non-farm payrolls delayed: US won’t release the January jobs report as scheduled on Friday
- Trump: I’m reducing tariffs on India to 18% from 25%
- Elon Musk’s SpaceX and xAI to merge
Markets:
- WTI crude oil down $3.01 to $62.20
- US 10-year yields up 4 bps to 4.28%
- S&P 500 up 0.6%
- Gold down $194 to $4670
- USD leads, CHF lags
The mood was poor in the pre-market with equity futures lower but they stabilized before the open and then the red was steadily chipped away. After stocks turned positive, there was some fomo in the stock market, or at least everything not connected with oil, natural gas, gold or crypto.
The ISM manufacturing survey was a big surprise and further helped the ‘real economy’ stocks. Transports and industrials surged as it jumped by the most in a month since 2020 and new orders skyrocketed. Maybe it’s just one month but the S&P Global survey was also strong, as was the Chicago PMI on Friday.
The report sent the US dollar modestly higher but Treasury yields up 4-5 bps across the curve. We also got some hawkish comments from Bostic but he’s mere week from retirement so I wouldn’t put much stock in those.
In the oil market, the lack of US strikes on Iran and talks scheduled for Friday removed the war premium in a hurry. It was straight down at the open and stayed that way.
Gold and silver tried to mount a comeback in early US trading but couldn’t and faded, though not back to the lows.
This article was written by Adam Button at investinglive.com.