US Markets Rise Ahead of GDP, Tech Outperforms, USD higher on JPY dip

US Stocks were firmer on Wednesday, with a reversal of yesterday’s session with Tech leading the charge higher the recent rise in bond yields lost some momentum , the Nasdaq 100 was up over 200 points and has now entered a technical bull market, rising 20% from its December low, while the S&P500 closed above its 50dma for the first time since March 6^th.

Most of the flow into tech went into the mega caps , with Meta , Google ,Microsoft and Netflix all having big up days.

In FX markets the USD was mostly firmer despite improving risk sentiment, This improving risk sentiment did see an unwinding of safe haven flows into the JPY, which saw the USDJPY rally strongly which gave the USD a tailwind across the board.

The AUD and Kiwi dollars were the next worse performers, the Aussie dragged down by a cooler than expected CPI figure yesterday, seeing further market pricing of a pause at next weeks RBA meeting.

The outperformer was the Canadian dollar, given a tailwind by a rebound in oil prices and comments overnight from the Deputy Governor of the BoC regarding their QT programme.

In commodities, gold was down slightly, but held up pretty well considering USD strength and an improvement in risk sentiment, finishing the day above $1960 USD an ounce.

Natural gas continued it’s downtrend, hitting lows not seen since 2020 and Oil after a week-long bounce, ended lower  despite a large inventory draw, dropping back to a $72 handle.

In economic announcements, later today we have the US GDP figure released, this will be an important one to gauge how resilient the US economy has been in the face of the Feds aggressive rate tightening cycle and should get the FX markets moving.