Markets rise ahead of inflation data
US equities rallied on Monday, followed by investors’ waiting on CPI data, which is going to be published today. The Dow Jones traded higher 1.1% to 34,245, the S&P Index gained 1.15% to 4137, and the Nasdaq ended up 1.5% to 11,891. Tech-related major companies contributed most in overall rally, with Meta gain 3% after preparing to new round of job cuts. Microsoft and Apple are also among the top performers. Treasury yields got slightly lower yesterday, with the yield on the 2-year note down 2bps to 4.51% and the yield on the 10-year note increased 2 bps to 3.68%. US Dollar remained flat with DXY level at 103.1.
Military actions continue in Ukraine, with Bakhmut as a main hotspot. According to Norway, Russian Navi has launched nuclear-armed ships first time in 30 years. Moldova President Maia Sandu claimed, that Russia is planning overthrow Moldova government. Minister of International Affairs of Ukraine Dmitry Kuleba said that ‘great events’ are coming by the anniversary of the war on Feb 24th. On the Russian stock markets IMOEX ended Monday 0.12% higher at 2,264 level, while the RTSI traded down 0.63% to 965 points. Today’s morning showed negative dynamic: IMOEX slipped 1.2% to 2,237, while RTSI continued decline with 1.3% down to 953 level. On the bond space RGBITR (gov bonds) and RUCBITR (corp bonds) showed decline duringyesterday trading session and today morning, with combined dynamics of -0.4% to 611 and -0.02% to 499.3, correspondingly, with 10y benchmark yield rising to 10.48%.
European markets are traded in green zone during today’s trading session, following UK solid labor data, but concerns ahead of CPI data made the gains not so big. On the stock markets, the DAX index in Germany traded this morning higher 0.2% at 15,425 level, while the CAC 40 in France is up 0.4% to 7,233 level, and the FTSE 100 in the U.K. with +0.3% to 7,977 points. 10Y GILT and 10Y Deutsche Bundus yields remained flat at 3.40% and 4bps to 2.34%, correspondingly. This week major interest of investors will be towards Core CPI data in the UK and Germany. Same type of data from the US may also affect EU markets.
SSA opens flat to firmer ahead of the US CPI release later in the session. The space traded mixed on Monday with only NGERIA (+.25) and GHANA (+.125) firmed having opened weaker; GHANA (+.125) getting buoyed at the open by progress on DDE after more than 80% of bondholders accepted the government’s terms.
The NTB secondary market closed on a positive note with average yields dropping by 10bps across the curve. Average yields across the long end of the curve dropped by 30bps while that on the medium end rose by 45bps and the short end remained unchanged. Nov 9, 2023 bill saw some buying interest while Jun 8, 2023 bill witnessed some selling interest.
In the OMO secondary market, average yields closed on a flat note with average yields across the curve, closing flat.
The FGN bonds secondary market closed on a positive note with average yields across the curve rose by 1bps. Average yields on the short & long ends dropped by 3bps & 1bos respectively. The medium end however dropped remained unchanged. The Apr 2037 bond was the best performer.
**The DMO offered four tenors at auction on Monday: Feb 2028- sold N257.41bn @ 13.99%. Apr 2032- sold N51.12bn @ 14.90%. Apr 2037- sold N220.56bn @ 15.90% and Apr 2049- sold N241.47bn @ 16.00%.