Friday, June 10, 2016

Futures are way down in the pre-market this Friday morning, nearly two weeks ahead of the Brexit vote that is making many followers tremble. Crude oil prices have surpassed the psychologically pleasing (relatively) $50 per barrel price, but the question now for this is: What’s next?

With no major earnings results expected for the next couple weeks or so, the political climate still fighting through a particularly malicious haze (on both sides of the aisle) and the Fed not issuing an official statement until next week, it’s understandable investors might feel a bit impatient.

Thus, when we see the German bund dip into negative territory (-0.03 percent as of this moment 45 minutes from the opening bell), we have something to cling to… and it ain’t pretty. It’s one thing to see Abenomics in Japan try to radically shift that country’s economy out of the multi-decade doldrums with negative interest rates, but when the Eurozone’s strongest economy is now offering bonds at a cost (albeit very marginal), this raises plenty of red flags.

It’s a record low for the German bund yield, and this development has not only helped send U.S. market futures into negative territory, but has increased the profile for goldbugs in the near term. Should you be among them, here’s an article by Eric Dutram from yesterday afternoon you need to check out: 10 Factors You Need to Know About Gold ETF Investing

At 10am ET this morning, we expect the latest data report on Consumer Sentiment. The University of Michigan survey expectations are down to 93.5 from a previous 94.7 read at the end of May. Not that much market activity pivots on this information typically, but we seem to be looking at more mildly negative sentiment going into the final trading day of the week.

Mark Vickery
Senior Editor