<p>If you were to glance at stock markets today, you would get the impression it was a 'risk off' day and that was true to a large extent early in the day but it's unwound in both forex and bonds in US trading.</p><p>The US dollar is generally lower today overall with losses against the pound and euro while gaining some ground against the loonie and yen.</p><p>On the news front, there hasn't been much to digest. The Fed's Barkin <a href="https://www.forexlive.com/centralbank/feds-barkin-not-taking-signal-from-jobs-retail-sales-due-to-seasonal-adjustments-20230217/" target="_blank" rel="follow">downplayed </a>the recent CPI and retail sales numbers as potentially skewed by seasonals while Bowman <a href="https://www.forexlive.com/centralbank/feds-bowman-were-seeing-a-lot-of-inconsistent-data-on-economic-conditions-20230217/" target="_blank" rel="follow">expressed </a>some angst and uncertainty about inflation. The economic calendar was bare.</p><p>Two things stand out as drivers of today's divergence:</p><ol><li>It's a long weekend in the US and that might have triggered a bid for safety in stocks</li><li>It's monthly options expiration day in stocks</li></ol><p>Overall, there's some kind of flows at work here that are skewing the picture.</p>
This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com.
Source link
