US Dollar: Mar ’23 USD is Down at 101.435.
Energies: Mar ’23 Crude is Down at 75.84.
Financials: The Mar ’23 30 Year T-Bond is Up 3 ticks and trading at 131.28.
Indices: The Mar ’23 S&P 500 Emini ES contract is 108 ticks Lower and trading at 4164.25.
Gold: The Apr’23 Gold contract is trading Down at 1930.00. Gold is 8 ticks Lower than its close.
Initial conclusion
This is not a correlated market. The dollar is Down, and Crude is Down which is not normal, and the 30 Year T-Bond is trading Higher. The Financials should always correlate with the US dollar such that if the dollar is lower, then the bonds should follow and vice-versa. The S&P is Lower, and Crude is trading Lower which is not correlated. Gold is trading Lower which is not correlated with the US dollar trading Down. I tend to believe that Gold has an inverse relationship with the US Dollar as when the US Dollar is down, Gold tends to rise in value and vice-versa. Think of it as a seesaw, when one is up the other should be down. I point this out to you to make you aware that when we don’t have a correlated market, it means something is wrong. As traders you need to be aware of this and proceed with your eyes wide open. Currently Asia is trading Higher with th exception of the Hang Seng and Shanghai exchanges. All of Europe is trading Lower with the exception of the London exchange. .
Possible challenges to traders today
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Average Hourly Earnings m/m is out at 8:30 AM EST. Major.
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Non-Farm Employment Change is out at 8:30 AM EST. Major.
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Unemployment Rate is out at 8:30 AM EST. Major.
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Final Services PMI is out at 9:45 AM EST. This is Major.
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ISM Services PMI is out at 10 AM EST. This is Major.
Treasuries
Traders, please note that we’ve changed the Bond instrument from the 30 year (ZB) to the 10 year (ZN). They work exactly the same.
We’ve elected to switch gears a bit and show correlation between the 10-year bond (ZN) and the S&P futures contract. The S&P contract is the Standard and Poor’s, and the purpose is to show reverse correlation between the two instruments. Remember it’s likened to a seesaw, when up goes up the other should go down and vice versa.
Yesterday the ZN hit a High at around 12:30 PM EST. The S&P was trading Lower at around the same time. If you look at the charts below ZN gave a signal at around 12:30 PM and the S&P gave a signal at around the same time. Look at the charts below and you’ll see a pattern for both assets. ZN hit a High at around 12:30 PM and migrated Lower. These charts represent the newest version of MultiCharts and I’ve changed the timeframe to a 15-minute chart to display better. This represented a Short opportunity on the 10-year note, as a trader you could have netted about 20 plus ticks per contract on this trade. Each tick is worth $15.625. Please note: the front month for the ZN is now Mar ’23. The S&P contract is now Mar’ 23 as well. I’ve changed the format to filled Candlesticks (not hollow) such that it may be more apparent and visible.
Charts courtesy of MultiCharts built on an AMP platform
ZN – Mar 2023 – 2/2/23
S&P – Mar 2023 – 2/2/23
Bias
Yesterday we gave the markets an Upside bias as both the USD and the Bonds were Lower Thursday morning, and this usually represents an Upside Day. We were mainly correct in that the S&P and Nasdaq traded Higher; the Dow traded Lower by 39 points. Given that today is Jobs Friday we will maintain a Neutral Bias as teh markets have never shown any sense of normalcy on this day.
Could this change? Of Course. Remember anything can happen in a volatile market.
Commentary
Yesterday we suggested an Upside Day but as the song goes two out of three ain’t bad. The Dow traded Lower, but the S&P and Nasdaq did close Higher. Today is the first Non-Farm Payroll report for 2023, so the question is can this set the tone for the year? We will maintain a Neutral Bias as the markets have never shown any normalcy on this day. Hopefully it is positive and moves the markets forward.