Breakfast Bites - Day 1 of Chair Powell

Rise and shine everyone.

It’s a big day. Former President Trump has secured the Republican nomination. But, more importantly for us today, Fed Chair Powell delivers his “Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to Congress” before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee at 10 am ET. (We discuss what to expect below)

Yesterday was hardly a pleasant day for the US markets with the SPX giving up just over 1% and the Nasdaq giving up 1.8%.

Following the release of the softer-than-expected US ISM Services data and the notably sharp decline in its Prices Paid component, US equities experienced continued selling pressure into the Asian trading session.

Japanese stocks, particularly those in the technology sector, saw declines. Similarly, Korean stocks also fell after February inflation figures slightly exceeded already heightened expectations. Conversely, the Hang Seng Index in Asia outperformed, rising over 2%, with Hong Kong's technology sector nearly up by 4%.

US Equity Futures are recouping some of those losses and trading higher this morning and alongside higher yields, which I still find very odd. The US Dollar Index is slightly weaker, while Oil, Gold, and even Bitcoin are trading higher.

Yesterday, Bitcoin hit an all-time high and we promptly saw plenty of profit-taking, falling 8%, to just below 60k.

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