JOLTs data sends the dollar lower; gold and oil jump

Asia-Pacific equity markets

Asia-Pacific equity markets rose overnight, following US indices gains on Tuesday as the USD lost ground against major currencies. The greenback fell on the late job data. Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey's (JOLT) job openings came in at 8.827 million, lower than the 9.5 million expected, reducing the chances for further the Federal Reserve (Fed) rate hikes.

The Reserve Bank of Australia

In Australia, too, there are hopes that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has done enough to beat inflation. Inflation in July fell to 4.9%, its lowest level since early 2022.

Macroeconomic indicators

A few macroeconomic indicators are scheduled throughout the day. In Germany, the consumer price index is expected to fall from 6.2 to 6%, but the risk may be on the upside because of soaring wages, which saw the Q2 wage data climb to 6.6%.

Over in the US, US private payrolls today from automatic data Processing (ADP) should slow to 195,000 from 324,000 in July. And the market awaits a second reading for Q2 gross domestic product (GDP). The US economy is expected to have expanded by 2.4%.

Prudential's operating profit

Elsewhere on the equity markets, Prudential's operating profit rose 3.6% in the first half to $1.46 billion. Annualised premium equivalent sales, a closely watched gauge of insurance sales, rose 37% to $3 billion following the end of China's zero COVID-19 policy late last year.

HP earnings

HP, an all-session stock on the IG platform, dropped in extended hours after missing revenue expectations and lowering its earnings forecast for the full year. For more than a year now, HP has been battling a slump in the PC segment. Inflation and an uncertain global economy triggered a decline in demand for consumer electronics.

Earnings came in line with expectations at 86 cents per share, helped by cost control measures, but revenue fell 9.9% to $13.20 billion, missing analysts' estimates of $13.37 billion. HP now forecasts adjusted earnings per share to be in the range of $3.23 to $3.35, up from earlier expectations of $3.30 to $3.50.

Oil prices

Oil rose substantially on Tuesday afternoon, as the dollar was falling. Investors are also increasingly worried about Hurricane Idalia, which is churning over the Gulf of Mexico, The offshore Gulf of Mexico accounts for about 15% of U.S. oil output and about 5% of natural gas production, according to the emergency liquidity assistance (ElA).

Oil also found support in the latest application programming interface (API) inventory data. The institute reported a 11.5 million-barrel fall in crude oil stocks, when analysts expected only a drop of 2.9 million barrels. Gasoline and distillate stocks rose, respectively, by 1.4 and 2.5 million barrels.

Bitcoin

Bitcoin rose more than 6% on Tuesday, a federal court ruled that the U.S. securities regulator was wrong to reject an application from Grayscale Investments to create a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). Judges said the SEC failed to fully explain its reasoning when denying Grayscale's product and should review its decision.

Grayscale

This court decision does not mean Grayscale's exchange-traded fund (ETF) is automatically approved, but it is nonetheless a big step towards the creation of the first product of its kind. Grayscale's CEO called the court decision a "historic milestone for American investors." As for the SEC, it said it was reviewing the court's decision in order to determine next steps. It has 45 days to appeal the ruling.