investingLive European markets wrap: Dollar drops while equities jump, gold hits $4,200

Headlines:

Markets:

• AUD leads, USD lags on the day
• European equities higher; S&P 500 futures up 0.6%
• US 10-year yields down 0.7 bps to 4.014%
• Gold up 1.5% to $4,202.09
• WTI crude up 0.2% to $58.83
• Bitcoin down 0.8% to $112,166

It was a decent session in terms of market action, as the focus and attention continues to stay on what will become of US-China trade tensions for the most part.

The dollar is finding itself in a weaker spot even as risk appetite picks back up, with the bond market holding at a critical juncture. After some pushing and pulling this week, the dollar is lower today and is starting to see some shifts in the near-term price bias. That comes as 10-year Treasury yields once again flirts with the 4% mark this week.

EUR/USD is up 0.2% to 1.1627 and GBP/USD up 0.3% to 1.3355 but aren’t really pushing the upside agenda all too much on the session. USD/JPY is down 0.3% to 151.40 but dipped to just under 151.00 briefly in European morning trade earlier. Meanwhile, AUD/USD is trading back up above 0.6500 – sitting just shy of its 100-day moving average of 0.6532 on the day.

In the equities space, the risk appetite is returning with stocks looking for more solid gains today. In Europe, French stocks are leading the charge amid better political developments back home while also buoyed by LVMH beating earnings estimates. The latter is helping to prop up luxury stocks, which are a key component of the CAC 40 index.

As for US futures, tech shares are seen bouncing back and will join financials today in search of further gains. Q3 earnings beats from BofA and Morgan Stanley in pre-market is helping with the mood at least.

But once again, one of the standout movers is in the commodities space as we see gold jump up to break the $4,200 mark for the first time. Price action remains volatile with the precious metal continuing to weave in and out of the figure level for now. Meanwhile, silver is also trading up over 2% to try and reclaim the $53 mark on the day. It’s the same old story since September until now.

Amid a lack of major economic releases, Fedspeak will be the thing to watch once again in US trading later alongside Trump headlines as usual.