The FP Markets research team produce First Light News during the early hours of the European session, ensuring traders and investors have the news needed to begin their day.

Thursday’s Highlights

Good morning.

It was a positive session for the US equity space on Thursday. Major US equity indices staged an impressive rebound on the back of recent banking support; the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 371 points (1.2%), the S&P 500 rallied nearly 70 points (1.8%) and the Nasdaq 100 climbed 330 points (2.7%). Technology shares stole the spotlight in terms of performance, adding 2.8%, followed by communication stocks at 2.3% and financial stocks at 1.9%. Of note, the First Republic Bank, according to Reuters, has received $30 billion in deposits from 11 large banking institutions, including JPMorgan Chase & Co, Citigroup Inc and Morgan Stanley, all of which ended the session higher by nearly 2.0% and formed daily bullish engulfing candlestick patterns (technically, JPM established a bullish outside day).

Chart: Trading View

It was a busy session for economic data. Thursday kicked off with Aussie employment, with employment change and the unemployment rate coming in better than expected. The economy added more than 64,000 new jobs, and unemployment ticked lower to 3.5%. US jobless claims also fell 20,000 to 192,000, and housing data came in relatively upbeat: building permits and housing starts printed better-than-expected data. The highlight of the day, however, was the European Central Bank (ECB) increasing its benchmark rates by 50 basis points. This pulls the Deposit Facility Rate to 3.0% and the Main Refinancing Rate to 3.5%. Of note, ECB President Christine Lagarde clarified that the central bank remains fixed on a meeting-by-meeting approach.

Markets Today

Asian equity markets adopted a risk-on tone in overnight trading, underpinned by recent support to the First Republic Bank and, through the Swiss National Bank (SNB), to Credit Suisse. European equity markets followed Asian markets and opened on the front foot and remain supported, with the FTSE 100 up 1.0%, as of writing.

In the currency space, procyclical currencies are positive while the US Dollar Index is trading on the ropes against its major peers, down 0.3%. Commodities are also in positive territory, as of writing. Spot gold (XAU/USD) and spot silver (XAG/USD) are higher by 0.6% and 0.8%, respectively, with oil (WTI) and palladium gaining by 1.7% and 1.0%. It would be remiss of us not to mention BTC/USD this morning, up 4.5%. In fact, we are green across the board for major cryptocurrencies; ETH/USD, LTC/USD and XRP/USD are all chalking up impressive performances.

Headline Events for the Day Ahead:

US Preliminary University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey for March at 2:00 pm GMT (Expected: 66.9; Previous: 67.0).

US Preliminary University of Michigan Inflation Expectations Survey for March at 2:00 pm GMT (Expected: 4.1%; Previous: 4.1%).

Technical Take?

For those who read our Technical Market Briefing yesterday, you will note EUR/USD has recently tested and responded from a noted H1 resistance between $1.0670 and $1.0664 (made up of a Quasimodo support-turned-resistance at $1.0664, a 100% projection ratio at $1.0670 [some will note this as an AB=CD bearish formation] and a 61.8% Fibonacci retracement ratio from $1.0667).

Chart: Trading View

Another key watch that was noted in recent analysis—The Pattern Pulse—is the Euro Stoxx 50 index; as you can see, price action has recently rebounded from key support on the daily timeframe at 4,016, a level bolstered by hidden positive divergence out of the Relative Strength Index (RSI).

Chart: Trading View

Currency Markets as of 10:15 am GMT:

EUR/USD: $1.0642 +0.4%

GBP/USD: $1.2129 +0.2%

AUD/USD: $0.6704 +0.8%

USD/JPY: ¥133.03 -0.5%

NZD/USD: $0.6247 +0.8%

USD/CAD: C$1.3697 -0.2%

USD/CHF CHF0.9258 -0.4%