STATE OF THE MARKETS

Stocks remain under pressure. US stocks closed mixed on Monday after a heavy sell-off for the last seven weeks as Fed geared up for more rate hikes to rein inflation. Nasdaq (-1.20%), S&P (-0.39%) and Russell (-0.52%) closed in the red, while Dow (+0.08%) eked minor gains as yields tumbled on bond demands, with the 10Y benchmark was flat at 2.89%. Dollar was under profit taking, with the index continuing to fall for the third day, breaking 103.50 at writing.

In the commodities market, crude continues to climb amid growing demand as Europe gears to phase out Russian’s oil. The black gold is firm at $112.80/bl as London breaks for lunch on Tuesday. Dollar weakness sent gold higher to $1,833.50/oz while iron ore remains in bids at $133/tn as markets expect demand recovery from China.

In the FX space, short term traders were quick to bid the oversold comdolls trio higher as Dollar, Swiss and Yen retreated to offers. Medium and long term accounts seemed cautious as Yen and Dollar remained in demand, alongside Loonie, Sterling and Euro.

On Tuesday, markets are expected to remain cautious while looking forward to earning reports from Walmart (WMT), Home Depot (HD), JD.com (JD), Weibo (WB) and Trip.com (TCOM) as well as the latest figures in US retail sales, industrial production, business inventories and housing market index.