Market Update – May 3 – Eyes on Fed

May 3, 2023

Japan and China bourses were closed for holidays and elsewhere markets were still rattled by the drop in Wall Street and fresh jitters at US regional banks. Asian stocks declined while US futures steadied on Wednesday as markets wait for the Fed announcement. Lingering concern over the health of the financial system should add to the arguments of the cautious camps at central banks, but policy sensitive short term bonds are underperforming this morning. Treasuries are holding a strong haven bid on worries over the regional banking sector. The sentiment is mixed by recent data suggesting an economic slowdown, including the lowest number of job openings in almost two years.

FOMC Preview: FOMC began its 2-day meeting and will announce its policy decision Wednesday at 18:00 GMT. A 25 bp increase is well anticipated. With no new SEP forecasts to guide the outlook, the focus will be on the policy statement and Chair Powell’s press conference. We do not expect any explicit forward guidance as the Fed will want to maintain optionality and leave all doors open. However, we do look for him to continue to push back against rate cut expectations. Implied Fed funds futures have slid lower, along with the drop in Treasury yields, amid heightened concerns over regional banks, and after weaker than expected data.

FX – USDIndex has corrected to 101.30 while the Yen is picking up haven bids. The EURUSD is also back above the 1.103 mark ahead of the Fed announcement today and the ECB meeting tomorrow.
Stocks – Hang Seng and ASX lost -1.7% and -0.96% respectively, although European and US Futures are higher. The US500 lost -1.16% while the US30 and US100 declined –1.08%. Jitters increased even after JPMorgan’s purchase of beleaguered First Republic Bank provided some stability Monday. But that did not hold as PacWest and Western Alliance were in the spotlight, dropping -42% and -27%, respectively, on investor angst. That saw the KBW bank index drop -4.4%. Nearly every sector in S&P was in the red.

Commodities – USOil plunged by -5% to $71.50 as markets priced in expectations for interest rate hikes in the US and Europe and waited for clarity on future policy path.
Gold – Spiked to $2018.

Biggest FX Mover @ (06:30 GMT) USOIL (-5%) drifted to 71.29 from 76 area. MAs flattened but MACD histogram & signal line are way below 0, Stochastics is slipping. ATR(H1) at 0.20 & ATR(D) at 2.26.

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Andria Pichidi

Market Analyst

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