Moving into the holiday season, markets remain quieter but supported. US indices finished flat to up 0.6% yesterday and this morning, the three main US index futures contracts are all up about 0.2%. The US 10-year treasury note yield is steady near 3.90%. Over in Europe, the FTSE is flat and the Dax is up 0.4%.
Commodity market action is mixed with Copper up 0.9% but Crude Oil down 0.6% and Natural Gas down 2.3%. In currency action, the Yen is down 1.0% after the Bank of Japan indicated it is not ready to move off of its ultra-dovish stance yet. Gold and the major paper currencies are holding steady while Bitcoin is up 2.7%.
Housing market data continues to roll out today. US housing starts beat expectations (1.56M vs street 1.26M). Yesterday the US NAHB Housing Market Index beat expectations but Canadian new house prices erased a previous one-month bounce and returned to negative territory. Tomorrow brings US existing home sales.
Inflation reporting resumes today with Canadian Consumer Prices (3.1% vs street 2.9% and previous 3.1%) slightly worse than expected and Core CPI increasing (2.8% vs street 2.7%). This is somewhat concerning as inflation held steady even with downward pressure on inflation from falling Canadian Raw Material prices fell more than expected (-4.2% vs street -3.5% and previous -2.6%). Earlier this morning Eurozone headline Consumer Prices held steady at 2.4% and Core CPI held steady at 3.6%; both were as expected. Tomorrow brings UK Consumer, Producer and Retail prices. Friday features US Core PCE inflation and Japanese Consumer Prices.