By Huw Jones
LONDON, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Wall Street was headed for a
steady start on Tuesday as a sell- off in U.S. Treasuries lifted
demand for the dollar and markets hoped for a calmer countdown
to Joe Biden's inauguration next week.
Lacklustre trading in European shares along with no major
corporate news or economic data offered few indications of
market direction.
Markets are sending mixed start-of-year messages as stocks
largely hold their highs, gold and the dollar stabilised and
Treasuries fell, said Ned Rumpeltin, European head of currency
strategy at TD Securities.
"It's still a relatively tense week for U.S. politics and in
the next few days things could happen. That will keep investors
perhaps on the defensive a bit," Rumpeltin said.
Democrats said they will give President Donald Trump one
last chance on Tuesday to leave office days before his term
expires or face an unprecedented second impeachment over his
supporters' deadly Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol.
Dow E-minis 1YMcv1 were up 0.2%, with S&P 500 E-minis
EScv1 gained 0.26%. Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 were up 0.3%.
A sell-off in U.S. bonds was fuelled by the prospect of more
government stimulus under President-elect Biden, who takes over
the White House next week, analysts said.
Yields were also pushed up by markets bringing forward bets
on Federal Reserve interest rate hikes to 2023, and a withdrawal
or tapering of asset purchases before then.
It puts the spotlight on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome
Powell, who speaks at an event hosted by Princeton University at
1730 GMT on Thursday.
The yield on benchmark U.S. government 10-year debt
US10YT=RR , which rises when prices fall, was up 0.039 basis
points to 1.1735%.
The U.S. dollar =USD , which hit a more than a
two-and-a-half-year low earlier this month, held recent gains,
helped by the spike in U.S. Treasury yields.
EARNINGS SEASON
Investors were looking to the new earnings season on Wall
Street, with banks JPMorgan, Citi and Wells Fargo reporting on
Friday.
"The big takeaway from those will be, how much more will
they set aside in terms of loan-loss provision, as they were
quite heavy in 2020, and how many of the U.S. banks restart
buybacks and dividends," said Michael Hewson, chief market
analyst at CMC Markets. "I suspect it won't be as many as people
think."
Analysts said it was unclear how much worse the pandemic get
in Britain and Europe generally, and whether a second wave was
unfolding in China.
Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said Britain faced a
difficult few months ahead due to a resurgence in COVID-19
cases. Shares in London .FTSE fell 0.7%, but Paris .FCHI and
Frankfurt .GDAXI were little changed.
Consolidation was also a theme in Asia overnight as well,
where MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS fell 0.5% after touching a record high on
Monday, led by a 2.6% drop in South Korea as investors took some
profits from a soaring Kospi .KS11 . .KS
Strong inflows helped Chinese blue chips .CSI300 rise
1.11%. .SS
Brent LCOc1 crude was up 1.5% at $56.49 a barrel. U.S.
crude CLc1 traded at $53.03, up 1.4%. O/R
Gold XAU= , which has been sold as U.S. yields rise because
it pays no interest, steadied at $1,860 an ounce, up 0.9% GOL/
Bitcoin BTC=BTSP stabilised at around $35,500 after
Monday's huge drop. It hit a record high of $42,000 on Jan. 8.
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Global currencies vs. dollar http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
Emerging markets http://tmsnrt.rs/2ihRugV
MSCI All Country Wolrd Index Market Cap http://tmsnrt.rs/2EmTD6j
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