Stocks down in Easter Monday thin trading - 4.21 日

The Dollar weakening continues presently. 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, slipped 0.2% on Friday.

EUR/USD joined GBP/USD’s accelerated advancing on Friday. Both euro and Pound are higher against the Dollar currently. Both USD/JPY and AUD/USD reversed their climbing on Friday with both the Australian dollar and the yen higher against the Greenback currently.

US stock indexes futures are down currently after ending mixed on Thursday ahead of Good Friday holiday. The three main stock benchmarks recorded daily returns in the range from -1.33% to 0.13% as president Trump expressed his displeasure with the Federal Reserve’s chair Powell writing on social media that Powell’s “termination... cannot come fast enough” after Powell commented that the central bank had to wait and see what is the influence of president Trump’s tariff policy on US economy before it decides on possible rate cuts. Over the the weekend, Chicago Federal Reserve President Goolsbee said that the tariffs could lead US economic activity to “fall off” by the summer.

European markets are closed today for Easter Monday after closing marginally lower on Thursday following a 25 basis point interest rate cut by the European Central Bank. Asian stock indexes futures are mixed today with Japan’s Nikkei leading losses while mainland Chinses shares rose as the People’s Bank of China held its benchmark loan prime rate steady, in line with expectations.

Brent is down currently. Prices ended over 3% higher on Thursday. US West Texas Intermediate WTI futures rose 3.5% but are lower currently. Brent gained 3.2% to $67.69 a barrel on Thursday. The U.S. Interior Department on Friday said it would open a 45-day public comment period for a new five-year offshore oil and gas leasing program that could include new zones in the Arctic and elsewhere to maximize energy development.