Summary:

• Gains seen on the European stock markets

• Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index advances 1.2%

• No major macroeconomic releases scheduled for today

In Europe most of the major stock benchmarks are posting gains thanks to the relatively weaker euro. However, S&P 500 futures point for a lower US opening. Taking a look at the FX front we have AUD trading as the best currency among G10 while Scandinavian currencies are the biggest underperformers. Oil advances with Brent trading a notch below the $80 handle. On the precious metals market we can see mixed moods with gold rising and silver posting declines.

Major currencies often follow interest rates quite closely and it was the case with EURUSD for years. 2017 was a major puzzle for FX investors as widening bond spread in favour of the US dollar was met with depreciation.

When Bitcoin was touching its highest levels in December last year almost everybody predicted it could quite easily continue this exponential rally. However, things have brutally changed since then, and as a result the most famous cryptocurrency is trading currently roughly $10k lower compared to its peak reached in December.

Yesterday brought quite an interesting story as there were reports that the new Italian government will demand ECB to write-down some of the Italian debt it has acquired through asset purchase programme. The discussed part of the debt was said to amount 250 billion euros.

According to the Telegraph reports the UK will tell the EU it is prepared to stay in customs union beyond 2021. Earlier this week PM May’s top ministers agreed on a new “backstop”, called as a lifeline, to avoid hard Irish border.

Thursday is exceptionally calm in terms of the macroeconomic releases as we have only one some semi-important data from the US scheduled to be published in the early afternoon. However, central bankers may move the markets today as members of Fed and ECB may address recent developments on the FX front.