Amid ongoing talks between the US and Russia aiming to end the Ukraine War, and conflicting stories about whether the US and China are talking tariffs or not, the US Dollar is bouncing back this morning. Gold is down 1.3%, the Yen is down 0.5%, the Euro is down 0.3%, and the Loonie is down 0.1%. The US 10-year treasury note yield has slipped back under 4.30%. In commodity action, Copper and Crude Oil are both down 1.3%.
Coming off three days of strong gains for US markets, US index futures are down 0.3%-0.5% with Dow Futures the softest, suggesting that some traders may be taking profits ahead of the weekend. In Europe today, the Dax is up 0.7% while the FTSE is up 0.2%.
As is common during the peak of earnings season we are seeing a mixed reaction to earnings reports. Headliners include Alphabet ($2.81 vs Street $2.01, up 3.5% premarket), T-Mobile US* ($2.58 vs Street $2.47, down 5.6% premarket) and Abbvie ($2.46 vs Street $2.38, up 3.4% premarket), indicating that investors remain more focused on forward guidance than past results.
In economic news, Canadian retail sales (-0.4% over month, in line with expectations) showed that excluding the tariff impacted auto-sector, sales were better than expected (+0.5% over month vs Street -0.4%). UK retail sales were also stronger than expected (2.6% over year vs Street 1.8%).
*Shares of T-Mobile US are held in portfolios managed by SIA Wealth Management.