- Stock Futures Rise; Metals Rally.
- The 10-year Treasury yield rose 3bps to 1.320%.
- oil was back over $69 a barrel and gold gained.
(Sept 10) Stock futures rose sharply on Friday, suggesting Wall Street was prepared to set aside jitters thatculminated in a four-day losing streak, with investors growing more cautious about the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the economy.
At 8:13 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 173 points, or 0.50%, S&P 500 E-minis gained 20.75 points, or 0.46% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis jumped 77.75 points, or 0.50%.
Here are some of the biggest US pre-movers today:
- Affirm Holdings (AFRM) shares rally 24% in premarket trading after its 4Q revenue topped estimates, prompting Truist to hike its PT on the stock.
- Iveric Bio (ISEE), a company working on geographic atrophy treatment, surges 34% after Apellis Pharmaceuticals (APLS) said only one of two late-stage studies of its product candidate pegcetacoplan met its main goal. Apellis slumps 30%.
- Sumo Logic (SUMO) sinks 11% as Piper Sandler downgrades the stock to neutral after reporting second-quarter results.
In FX, dollar trades on the back foot with Bloomberg dollar index down 0.2%. Commodity currencies extend Asia’s outperforming versus G-10 peers. The Bloomberg dollar Spot Index fell as the greenback traded lower against almost all of its Group-of-10 peers. The Treasury curve remains close to the flattest level in a year, signaling the market’s concern a hawkish Federal Reserve will derail growth in the world’s largest economy. The euro inched up amid a broadly weaker dollar, to trade at around $1.1850.The pound brushed off the latest GDP data which showed the U.K. economy barely grew in July.The Australian and New Zealand dollars were among the top G-10 performers as U.S.-China talks spurred hopes of improved relations between the two nations. The yen underperformed all of its Group-of-10 peers, while Norway’s krone gained amid a rally in oil and other commodities.
In rates, Treasuries were off session lows as U.S. trading begins, although under pressure with the curve steeper following gains for risky assets during Asia session and European morning. Yields were higher by 2bp-3bp from 10-year to long end, 10-year by 2.4bp at ~1.32%, wider vs bunds and gilts by 0.8bp and 1.5bp; on curve, 2s10s, 5s30s spreads wider by 2bp and 1bp respectively. The bear-steepening move pushed 30-year yields back toward Thursday’s pre-auction level. Treasuries traded heavy in Asia as local stocks closed higher following a telephone call between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Among European markets, Germany’s benchmark 10-year government bond yield was flat after the ECB move, but Greek yields fell for the second day as markets continued to view the bank’s cautious approach as a positive. Peripheral spreads widened slightly, with 10y BTP/Bund spread near 104bps.
In commodities, oil gained ground on signs of tight U.S. supplies after Hurricane Ida hit offshore output, with Brent crude up 1.7% at $72.67 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude at $69.29 a barrel, up 1.7%. Base metals extend the week’s gains: LME aluminum outperforms, adding a further 2%, gaining over 6% since Monday. Spot gold extends Asia’s modest gains to trade either side of $1,800/oz.
To the day ahead now, and the main data highlight will be the producer price inflation release from the US, whilst from Europe, there’s July data on UK GDP and French and Italian industrial production. From central banks, we’ll hear from ECB President Lagarde, along with the ECB’s Villeroy, Elderson, Rehn, as well as the Fed’s Mester. Lastly, the Central Bank of Russia will be making their latest monetary policy decision.