No single trend in equities markets on rising US tax worries - 23.4.2021

The Dollar strengthening has stalled 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, rose 0.2% Thursday as US Labor Department reported 547 thousand Americans sought unemployment benefits over the last week, down from 586 thousand the previous week.

EUR/USD joined GBP/USD’s continued sliding Thursday as the European Central Bank decided to leave policy on hold despite its prediction of a strong rebound in the euro zone economy from mid-year as COVID-19 infections are brought under control. Both pairs are higher currently. AUD/USD joined USD/JPY’s continued sliding with both yen and Australian dollar higher against the Greenback currently.

Futures on three main US stock indexes are mixed currently ahead of Markit’s flash manufacturing PMI report at 15:45 CET today after a bearish session yesterday on reports details of president Biden’s tax proposal including nearly doubling taxes on capital gains to 39.6% for people earning more than $1 million will be released next week before Biden’s address to Congress on Wednesday. The three main US stock benchmarks recorded similar daily losses of 0.9% each.

European stock indexes are higher today after closing higher Thursday led by utilities shares. Asian indexes are mostly up today with Hang Seng leading gainers.