- US equities edge higher as markets turn cautious amid mixed clues.
- Coronavirus woes regain traction in Asia-Pacific, US consumer sentiment, housing data improves, ADP Employment eyed.
- S&P 500, Nasdaq refresh record top, Dow closed unchanged.
- US 10-year Treasury yields wobble, DXY refreshes weekly top.
Wall Street benchmarks post mild gains, after refreshing record tops, as the pre-NFP anxiety matches mixed clues on Tuesday. The coronavirus (COVID-19) resurgence, mainly the fears of the Delta variant, could be cited as the key catalysts to probe the bulls. On the contrary, upbeat US CB Consumer Confidence and housing market figures favored optimists ahead of today’s early signal for the US Nonfarm Payrolls, namely ADP Employment Change.
Read: Forex Today: Dollar advances heading into US employment figures
That being said, Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) prints 0.03% daily gains or adding 9.02 points, to 34,292 by the of Tuesday’s North American session. Further, S&P 500 Futures and Nasdaq marked another day with a fresh all-time high, before closing with the 0.03% and 0.19% daily upside, near 4,291 and 14,528 respectively.
Covid conditions again worsen in Asia-Pacific as the Delta strain weighs on the recovery from the pandemic. The concerns become serious as the nations have too low inoculation numbers. Among them, Australia, Indonesia and Thailand gain major attention.
Talking about data, US CB Consumer Confidence for June rose to 127.3 versus upwardly revised May figures of 120.0. US House Price Index and S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices were also positive, up 1.8% MoM and 14.9% YoY for April compared to 1.6% and 13.4% previous readouts. It should be noted that Germany also reported upbeat inflation data for June (preliminary) while Eurozone sentiment data for June rose as well.
Stock-specific news backed pharma and bank shares as India’s approval of Moderna’s vaccine propelled MRNA by over 5.0% while Morgan Stanley doubled dividend. Fox, on the other hand, had to bear the burden of rating downgrade from Guggenheim with around 4.0% slump.
Amid these plays, US Treasury yields remained mostly unchanged while gold refreshed 2.5-month low whereas oil prices rallied on OPEC+ chatters.
Moving on, China’s NBS Manufacturing PMI, Eurozone Consumer Price Index (CPI) and covid updates, not to forget Fedspeak, may entertain investors ahead of the US ADP Employment Change for June, expected 600K versus 978K prior.
Read: ADP Nonfarm Payrolls Preview: Going contrarian? How to trade this leading indicator
