Headlines:

Markets:

• EUR leads, USD lags on the day
• European equities lower; S&P 500 futures down 1.2%
• US 10-year yields down 4.4 bps to 3.933%
• Gold up 0.7% to $2,461.51
• WTI crude up 0.2% to $76.44
• Bitcoin up 0.2% to $64,767

It’s shaping up to be another rough day for equities, at least in the first half of things. The second half comes later in US trading and will feature the non-farm payrolls report. That will be a key factor in driving the market mood before the weekend comes along.

But for now, the selling pressure since yesterday hasn’t really abated. In Japan, the Nikkei fell by nearly 6% in posting its worst daily decline since the Covid pandemic. That set the tone as European traders got to their desks in the morning.

The selloff wasn’t just contained to tech shares as banking stocks are also heavily impacted. In Europe, most major indices are down over 1% as the negative sentiment persisted. That comes with US futures also dribbling lower during the session. S&P 500 futures are now down 1.2% with Nasdaq futures down 1.7%. Meanwhile, Dow futures are down 0.9% and Russell 2000 futures are down 2.3%.

In FX, USD/JPY is keeping lower with the dollar also seen slightly on the softer side today. The pair is down 0.2% to near 149.00 with EUR/USD up 0.4% to 1.0830 currently. Besides that, USD/CHF is down 0.3% to 0.8700 while commodity currencies are lightly changed against the greenback amid the more defensive risk mood.

In the bond market, yields continue to hang lower with 10-year Treasury yields building on the drop under 4%. The flight to safety is arguably a contributing factor and that is also propping up the likes of gold, which is up 0.7% to just above $2,461 currently.