Summary:

  • Cryptocurrencies continue to decline with Bitcoin trading in the vicinity of $6500

  • European stocks trade lower after biggest daily gain in two years

  • Markets await NFP report (1:30 pm BST)

Friday’s early trading was calm as no major macroeconomic releases from Europe were planned. However, the situation may change in the afternoon once NFP report takes the stage. British pound is advancing against all its peers from the G10 basket while NZD reports the biggest losses. Taking a look at the commodity market we can see that gold is trading a bit lower along with silver. Also oil prices remain under pressure.

Bitcoin and its major peers have no reprieve and keep falling. Moreover, the latest torrent of media reports are not conducive to digital coins as there are more and more banks banning purchases of them. Let’s begin with the story coming from Chile where Banco del Estado de Chile, operating as Banco Estado being the only bank in the South American nation working with cryptocurrency exchanges decided to stop servicing their accounts.

Allianz Global Investors points that the weakening correlation between Euro Stoxx 600 index and the S&P 500 index may result in European stocks outperforming their US peers this year. The European gauge was much less vulnerable to the recent selloff on the global markets as technological shares account just for a 5% of the Euro Stoxx 600 index while in S&P 500 that shares is as big as 25%. Also the impact of the US-China trade war on the European equities is smaller than on their US counterparts.

This week is all about a US-China trade war, and the last day is not different. On Wednesday, China decided to impose a $50 billion tariff on more than 100 US goods in response to the release by the US of a list of proposed duties targeting roughly $50 billion of Chinese goods. This was a notable blow to the United States as the list includes the most important products such as soybean, cars, aircraft or chemicals.

The trade war theme still steer the markets yet we cannot forget about macroeconomic releases, especially as important ones as US labour market data. US labour market report will be released in the early afternoon along with its Canadian counterpart. Later on Ivey PMI from Canada will take the stage thus investors may expect increased volatility on the USDCAD throughout the day.