Stock markets mixed as yields ease from 14-month peak - 22.3.2021

The Dollar strengthening is intact currently. The live dollar index data show the ICE US Dollar index, a measure of the dollar’s strength against a basket of six rival currencies, added 0.1% on Friday as Federal Reserve decided to let the temporary Supplementary Leverage Ratio (SLR) exemption expire as scheduled on March 31. The exemption allowed banks to exclude holdings of Treasuries and excess deposits from the SLR, a ratio that places a limit on bank balance sheet extensions (relative to capital).

Both EUR/USD and GBP/USD continued their sliding Friday as Germany’s producer prices rose less than forecast in February. Both are lower against the Dollar currently. USD/JPY joined AUD/USD’s continued sliding Friday with yen higher against the Greenback currently while Australian dollar is lower yet.

Futures on US equity benchmarks are mixed currently after ending mixed on Friday as the 10-year US Treasury note’s yield was above 1.7 per cent. The three main US stock benchmarks recorded returns ranging from -0.7% to +0.8%.

European stock indexes are mixed currently after ending down on Friday led by bank shares. Asian indexes are mixed today with Nikkei index leading losses as carmakers led declines in Japanese shares after a fire at semiconductor supplier Renesas Electronics' plant spurred worries about more chip supply shortfalls hitting vehicle production.