The main focus today will be on US ISM for May, In the EU we have significant PMI data to be released. It has been a mixed session in Asia as markets are on standby mode ahead of Thursday’s EECB rate decision and US NFP on Friday. 

Currencies: Overnight, AUD/USD jumped from 0.7235 to 0.73 on better than expected GDP Q1 report. USD/JPY suffered steep losses, weakening from Monday’s peak of 111.45 which had been the USD strongest since April. GBP/USD dived yesterday from 1.4650 to 1.4480 as a poll released yesterday showed a surprise lead for the “leave” campaign. EUR/USD was quiet as usual trading in a 1.1115-35 range. For the month of May, the EUR/USD plummeted more than 2.85% against the USD, falling sharply from its level at the start of the month when it surged to 9 month highs above 1.16. Despite the recent pullback, the EUR is still holding onto considerable gains from the start of the year.

Stocks: US stocks ended mostly lower yesterday as investors turned cautious on the last trading day of the month ahead of Fridays NFP report. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 86.09 points, or 0.5%, lower at 17,787.13 after notching a 130-point decline earlier. The S&P 500 closed down 2.11 points, or 0.1%, to 2,096.95 while the Nasdaq Composite was the only index to manage a daily gain, closing up 14.55 points, or 0.3%, at 4,948.05. As May is traditionally a bad month for stocks (there is this saying “Sell in May and go away”), the small gains made in May kept investors and analysts on the happy side.

Oil and Gold: Overnight, oil prices pushed again the $50 mark briefly before retreating, repeating a pattern from last week amid bearish suggestions from analysts that the strong rally may have been overextended on questionable factors such as unplanned supply disruptions. On the contrary, GOLD had its first rise in 10 days as the yellow metal was boosted following data from China that showed a stabilizing economy.

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