Yen Firm, Bitcoin Surges to $71,000: What's Moving the Markets

Headlines:

• USD/JPY nudges lower, eyes on next key technical level
• Bitcoin takes another look above $70,000 to start the week
• ECB's Kažimír says should wait until June for first rate cut
• Japan Business Federation head says feeling greater momentum for wage hikes this year
• China still can't shake off property market woes
• SNB total sight deposits w.e. 8 March CHF 477.4 bn vs CHF 478.5 bn prior

Markets:

• JPY leads, AUD lags on the day
• European equities lower; S&P 500 futures down 0.2%
• US 10-year yields down 0.7 bps to 4.081%
• Gold flat at $2,177.42
• WTI crude down 0.3% to $77.25
• Bitcoin up 4.8% to $71,688

It's a quiet start to the new week in Europe, with little on the agenda to really get traders out of bed. All eyes are on the bigger events later this week, so there's not much to get excited about today. In FX, the Japanese yen continues to hold firm and maintains its form from last week. USD/JPY dipped early in Asia to 146.53 before recovering to 147.00 and then falling back to 147.50 during the session. As for the dollar itself, it is mostly steadier and trading within narrow ranges against the other major currencies. Instead, it was Bitcoin that is the main mover as the cryptocurrency looks to seal a break above $70,000. It is up nearly 5% now in a run towards the $72,000 mark on the day. In the equities space, European indices are lower as they take a bit of a cue from Wall Street on Friday. US futures also slumped a little during the session but are now just down slightly by 0.2% on the day. In other markets, bonds and gold are looking rather lackluster for the most part. The changes are light as it doesn't look like traders have much appetite to chase anything before the US CPI data tomorrow.