STATE OF THE MARKETS

Flight to safety continues. US stocks jumped higher on Tuesday after reports of better than expected earnings results from Walmart (WMT), Home Depot (HD) and a few other names that signaled upbeat consumers. Though Russell (+1.50%), Nasdaq (+1.45%) and S&P (+0.87%), including Dow (+0.17%) closed in the green, flight to bond safety remained the order of the day as yields continued to drop on rising bond prices. The shorter 2Y yielded 4.32% while the 10Y benchmark yielded 3.78% as the Dollar index continued to fall below the 106 handle.

In the commodity markets, crude oil remained well bid after news of supply disruption to Hungary. The black gold settled near $86.20/bl as New York closed. News of suspected Russian missiles that landed in Poland sent gold higher to break the $1,780/oz barrier. Elsewhere, iron ore continues to climb near $92.30/tn on Dollar weakness.

In the FX space, sentiments were mixed as Swiss and Yen reigned in demand in the medium term alongside Aussie and Kiwi across all horizons. Loonie and King Dollar remained on offer across all horizons.

On Wednesday, markets expects to remain volatile as more development reports on Poland bombings become available on the NATO member. Earnings release to watch include Lowe’s (LOW), NVIDIA Corp (NVDA), Cisco (CSCO), TJX Companies (TJX), Target (TGT), Copart (CPRT) and Bath & Body Works (BBWI) as well as the latest figures in the US mortgage applications, retail sales, import and export prices. EIA petroleum status will be in the spotlight for energy traders.