Key Points
- Markets initially buoyant, but fall back after the ADP numbers
- Fed’s Bullard: Fridays Payrolls will be “one of the worst ever”
- U.S. ADP Employment in April shows 20mln+ in job losses
Bias: Risk off
Commentary
U.S. stocks opened with a light bid overnight, but lost gains and more into the close overnight after a 20mln+ fall in the ADP Non-Farm Employment in April. While the market was expecting a bad number, the headline number spooked whatever bulls were active.
Currencies were again quiet overnight, with continued U.S./Chinese tensions combined with the shocking ADP Employment numbers sidelining many players. There was a light move into the Big Dollar, with the Euro, Sterling and commodity currencies all drifting off.
Storage concerns continued to weigh on oil prices, while gold fell more than 1%.
Bias
Despite the quiet overnight session, we are expecting some volatility in Asia today, with Japanese players back at their desks and with a swag of data on the docket. Today sees Australian Trade, the Chinese Caixin Services PMI and Trade numbers. Later today sees the UK MPC meeting, while the U.S. will release Initial Claims numbers.