Category: Future Trading News

The first quarter of 2015 came to an end this week, with Europe and Asia equities up big, while the S&P500 underperformed and the DJIA posted a losing quarter for the first time in two years. There were some green shoots in European and Chinese data. China’s March PMI data showed manufacturing returned to expansion after two months of contraction, while Euro Zone manufacturing registered its 21st straight month of growth. But Friday’s US payrolls data disappointed, posting the worst gain in over a year, and sending treasury yields and the dollar lower. The Iran talks were extended past the Tuesday deadline, allowing negotiators to arrive at a preliminary agreement that hopes to curtail Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. For the week, the DJIA rose 0.3%, the S&P500 gained 0.3% and the Nasdaq slipped 0.1%.

Though most Western markets were closed for Good Friday, the US Labor Department remained open on the religious holiday and released a hair raising jobs report. March Nonfarm payrolls came in at a +126K versus the +245K estimate and February was revised down by over 30K, taking the Q1 average monthly gain down to +197K (vs. +324K in Q4). Similar to last year’s slow start, the weak numbers were largely blamed on poor weather conditions. In illiquid holiday trading, the dollar sank after the jobs reports. After remaining in a fairly tight range through early Friday, the greenback slid about 1% to one-week lows against other major currencies, rising to above 1.10 against the euro and dropping below 119 yen. The 10-year treasury yield approached a two month low around 1.82% after the payrolls number.

The Iran nuclear talks went into double overtime, with the P5+1 negotiators extending talks through Thursday after missing the deadline to reach a preliminary deal on Tuesday. The additional 48 hours of talks yielded a framework agreement that, if fully implemented, will curtail Iran’s nuclear activities for up to 25 years. In the draft document, Iran agreed to remove or dilute 95% of its enriched uranium stockpiles, and to confine its centrifuge operations to one location, moves that purportedly would extend Iran’s “break out” period for developing a nuclear weapon to more than 12 months. In return, the EU and US agreed to lift all financial and economic sanctions once IAEA inspectors confirm Iran’s compliance. The preliminary deal starts the clock on a more detailed final round of talks with a June 30th deadline.

Elsewhere in the tumultuous Middle East, the Saudi-led coalition continued bombing Yemen even as Houthi rebels consolidated their grasp on most of the country and began taking the key port city of Aden, the last big holdout of government forces. Saudi ground forces gathered on the Yemen border have not entered the country yet.

Continue reading “Futures Trading Levels & Economic Reports 4.07.2015”