Here are the levels/net change from Friday’s close /percentage change:
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Euro: 1.1546 | -0.0072 | -0.62%
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Japanese yen: 158.04 | 0.25 | 0.16%
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British pound: 1.3339 | -0.0072 | -0.54%
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Swiss franc: 0.7787 | 0.0030 | 0.39%
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Canadian dollar: 1.3600 | 0.0033 | 0.24%
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Australian dollar: 0.6982 | -0.0048 | -0.68%
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New Zealand dollar: 0.5864 | -0.0036 | -0.61%
That’s not a good sign for markets. Iran offered indications it would stop bombing neighbours if they didn’t host attacks on Iran but that was followed by some very harsh rhetoric from Trump and then Iran quickly walked it back.
The big one to watch is the open of the oil market. Given these forex moves, crude is likely to take another leg higher. April WTI finished on Friday at $90.90 in a 10% jump but we’re into the roll this week and May crude was at $87.52. Further out the curve, we’re starting to see upward pressure too, which December oil up to $69.07.
A separate weekend indication is from bitcoin, which is only fractionally lower from late Friday levels and trading at $67,121. I would defer to FX but that’s at least a silver lining.
Note that US clocks moved ahead an hour yesterday, so it’s currently just after 5 pm in New York. That makes the gap to London just four hours for the time being. The futures market will open in one hour, at 6 pm NY time.
In terms of the latest developments in Iran, Khamenei’s son Mojtaba was named new Supreme Leader, according to state media. Israel has pledged to kill any future leaders, so he’s in a dangerous position. That said, the US will need to negotiate with someone at some point.
This article was written by Adam Button at investinglive.com.
