The S&P 500 rose as much as 1.2%, only to finish up 0.3%. Stocks advanced after an early bid went through the Treasury market. Union Pacific Corp. advanced after it said it would replace its CEO this year amid pressure from a major shareholder. Gains in Tesla Inc. and Apple Inc. helped push the index higher. Risk assets pulled back on comments from Fed Governor Philip Jefferson, who defended the central bank’s 2% inflation target. US pending home sales rose last month by the most since June 2020, which could keep pressure on the Fed to stay hawkish. Meanwhile, orders for durable goods fell, in their steepest decline since April 2020, underscoring a pullback in bookings for commercial aircraft. Excluding transportation equipment, orders rose more than expected. Orders placed with US factories for business equipment also climbed as companies continued to make longer-term capital investments despite uncertainty about where the economy is headed.

Treasuries pushed higher into and in the aftermath of January durable goods data to leave the curve moderately flatter with gains led by front-end. Yields ended off richest levels, however, as dollar issuance slate started to grow. US yields ended richer by up to 4bp across belly of the curve which outperformed long-end, steepening 5s30s by 2.8bp on the day; 10-year yields ended around 3.925%, richer by 2bp vs. Friday’s close.

The dollar weakened against all of its G-10 peers as investors digested economic data to gauge the Federal Reserve policy path. The New Zealand dollar, yen and Australian dollar trailed rivals in the advance versus the greenback.

• USD/JPY down 0.2% to 136.19
• AUD/USD rose 0.3% to 0.6743
• NZD/USD rose 0.1% to 0.6171

In commodities gold rose and crude oil futures sank. Ecuador could restart its only two crude pipelines as soon as Monday after completing repairs. Elsewhere, crypto currencies slid, sending Bitcoin toward $23,000.

Global event radar: China PMIs (Wed), Eurozone CPI Inflation (Thurs), National People’s Congress (5^th Mar), RBA Meeting (7^th Mar), BoJ Meeting (10^th Mar), US Employment (11^th Mar), US CPI Inflation (14^th Mar), US Retail Sales (15^th Mar), China Activity Data (15^th Mar), ECB Meeting (17^th Mar), BoE Meeting (23^rd Mar), US FOMC Meeting (23^rd Mar), Eurozone CPI Inflation (31^st Mar).

Daily Market Analytics by,

Lenny Hayes

Chief Technical Officer