Japan prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, makes the announcement official
This just confirms reports from earlier in the week, as Tokyo’s state of emergency is now extended to 21 March. The virus situation in Japan has gotten much better in recent weeks and hasn’t been much of a factor to the economy as of late as such.

GBP/USD falls to 1.3800 for the first time since 12 February
The pound lost ground and cable fell back under 1.4000 and has struggled to get back above that this week, before extending its decline in the past few sessions.

Equities stay on the defensive even as bonds are seen calmer so far today
Dip buyers were a little interested at the tail-end of Asian trading but the mood has turned since with S&P 500 futures seen down 0.4%, Nasdaq futures down 0.6%, Dow futures down 0.4%, and Russell 2000 futures down 0.8% currently.

Dollar pushes to fresh highs for the year
AUD/USD has slumped to a fresh low since 8 February below 0.7700 as it leads the drop in the major currencies space today. Adding to that is EUR/USD pushing to a fresh low of 1.1915, its lowest level in three months as highlighted earlier.

European equities fall alongside US futures
The Eurostoxx is down 1% with the DAX down 0.7% on the day currently, extending declines from earlier as risk sentiment keeps more fragile for now.

All eyes are on the Fed chair as he speaks later today at 1705 GMT
I’ll try to keep this as short and succinct as possible.
There’s only two ways that things are going to play out today. It is either the market feels that Powell has offered enough of a pushback against the recent rise in

EUR/USD eases to session lows of 1.2067
It has been a relatively choppy session for major currencies as the dollar rocks back and forth on the session with little firm direction really.

Gold is down 0.9% on the day to $1,722
The bounce yesterday in gold is fizzling as the yellow metal continues to struggle to stay afloat for the most part after breaking the November low @ $1,764.80.

Further comments by Weidmann
report

Comments by ECB policymaker and Bundesbank president, Jens Weidmann
Some token remarks there by Weidmann but that fits with the market narrative at the moment as well, with the way bonds have reacted over the past two weeks. Essentially, a strong recovery is expected in 2H 2021 but that is still largely conditional on how the