European Open: Biden and Xi Are ‘Virtually’ Friends

Asian Indices:

• Australia's ASX 200 index rose by 50.1 points (0.7%) and currently trades at 7,256.60
• Japan's Nikkei 225 index has risen by 291.04 points (1.06%) and currently trades at 27,819.91
• Hong Kong's Hang Seng index has risen by 576.7 points (2.41%) and currently trades at 24,543.19

UK and Europe:

• UK's FTSE 100 futures are currently up 73 points (1.05%), the cash market is currently estimated to open at 7,068.87
• Euro STOXX 50 futures are currently up 48 points (1.2%), the cash market is currently estimated to open at 4,060.65
• Germany's DAX futures are currently up 178 points (1.19%), the cash market is currently estimated to open at 15,151.33

US Futures:

• DJI futures are currently up 102.32 points (0.003%)
• S&P 500 futures are currently up 104.75 points (0.71%)
• Nasdaq 100 futures are currently up 22.5 points (0.52%)

Asian equities rejoice

Joe Biden is to meet with President XI over video near the end of the year, according to senior officials. The talks aim to improve relations before the two economic powerhouses after relations were left frosty following the previous administration. Whilst nothing more than a symbolic tease as of yet, Asian equities embraced the optimism with all major benchmarks across the region rising in tandem. The Hang Seng was the clear leader, rising 2.7% at time of writing whilst the Nikkei is around 1.7% higher. US futures opened around 0.5% higher and European futures are up over 1%.

FTSE 350: Market Internals

FTSE 350: 4010.66 (-1.15%) 06 October 2021

• 39 (11.11%) stocks advanced and 306 (87.18%) declined
• 4 stocks rose to a new 52-week high, 29 fell to new lows
• 50.71% of stocks closed above their 200-day average
• 15.95% of stocks closed above their 50-day average
• 5.7% of stocks closed above their 20-day average

Outperformers:

• + 7.84%-Pagegroup PLC(PAGE.L)
• + 5.95%-Tesco PLC(TSCO.L)
• + 4.29%-Endeavour Mining PLC(EDV.L)

Underperformers:

• ·-8.02%-Trustpilot Group PLC(TRST.L)
• ·-7.10%-Draper Esprit PLC(GROW.L)
• ·-6.33%-Elementis PLC(ELM.L)

Forex: US employment and BOC Governor in focus

US jobless claims is the main US economic data point today. Initial claims have risen for the past three weeks, although they remain just above their post-pandemic lows. But any signs of lower claims today will be taken as a net positive, given yesterday’s string ADP read ahead of tomorrow’s Nonfarm payroll report. And that could bolster the US dollar.

CAD pairs will be in focus later today with IVEY PMI scheduled at 15:00, followed by a speech by BOC’s Governor Tiff Macklem speaking at 17:00. The euro and British pound have been slaves to CAD strength over the past three weeks, and they have effectively been crushed in a straight line. But with oil prices showing the potential for an interim top then a soft PMI or dovish remark from Macklem could help such crosses bounce from their lows.

Technically, GBP/USD looks of interest after printing a potential swing high. It’s 4-day rebound from 1.3412 met resistance at the 20-day eMA and failed to close above trend resistance and a 61.8% Fibonacci ratio. Yesterday’s bearish candle also forms the final part of an Evening Star Reversal pattern, which would be confirmed with a break beneath 1.3532. A break above Tuesday’s high (1.3648) invalidates the near-term bearish bias.

Commodities: Gold holds 1750

A bullish hammer formed on gold’s daily chart yesterday, once again showing demand around the 1750 level. A break above 1770.55 would be constructive for the bull-case, although we may need to wait for tomorrow’s NFP for such a move.

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