Summary:

• ZAR gains following president’s resignation

• Bitcoin breaks above $9k

• Traders await pack of US data

After yesterday’s market turmoil caused by the release of US inflation data Thursday is relatively calm. However, this may change in the afternoon as another macro figures from the US are due. Swiss franc is the strongest currency among its G10 peers while Norwegian krone is the weakest one. Gold is trading flat and oil prices remain under pressure.

Inflation is now the main theme in the United States. Following years of economic recovery there’s a growing confidence that the US consumer is finally able to produce some price pressure, actually enough of it to warrant monetary tightening. We analyse yesterday’s report and take a look at 3 relevant markets: US500, EURUSD and Gold.

The South African rand gained momentum on Wednesday evening after Zuma’s resignation from his presidential post which, however, was broadly expected for a long time. Needless to say that ZAR’s strength is being fuelled by US dollar weakness alike but the end of the nine-year long scandal in South Africa suggest that declines in the USDZAR could even accelerate from the current levels.

Bitcoin accelerated its uptrend during the yesterday’s session as it managed to break above a $9k mark climbing the highest level this month. Let us recall that we pointed out such a scenario on Wednesday when we referred to blockchain talks in the US House of Representatives.

European stocks followed into their US and Asian peers footsteps posting gains during the opening as the optimism spread across the globe. Chancellor Angela Merkel promises to maintain balanced budget. Deutsche Telekom is about to develop new 4-year strategy.

Another day and the same story, the Japanese yen is gaining traction being the best performing major currency in the G10 basket. While prior to today there were no concrete reasons standing behind such stellar performance, things changed somewhat during today’s Asian session.

Looking at the Thursday’s calendar one can notice an avalanche of data from the US scheduled for the early afternoon. Firstly figures concerning PPI dynamics and labour market will be released. Later on, industrial production gauge is going to take the stage.