S&P equity futures followed Asian and European stocks lower, driven by weakness in Franch and Italian markets, as French political concerns returned; the pound tumbled after UK monthly retail sales unexpectedly dropped pushing the dollar higher and Euro lower.
Marine Le Pen's French election victory odds reached their highest level of the campaign overnight and it appears global investors are starting to panic-bid protection against the consequences for French stocks...
Oddschecker indicates Le Pen's incessant rise in popularity...
And as Bloomberg notes, as the French prepare to choose their next president, investors are paying up to hedge against swings in the nation’s shares.
There’s a big disconnect for traders. Everyone keeps telling Bloomberg's Richard Breslow that there's so much uncertainty out there that it's too dangerous to trade. They also assume every time we get yet another flailing gyration in a given day’s price action that someone knows something -- and it’s big.
The truth is, no one knows anything at the moment. There are enormous uncertainties on every continent and where the ball stops bouncing is anybody’s guess. And your guess is as good as the next guy’s.
After yesterday's speech by Janet Yellen which signaled a path of steady interest rate increases and was perceived as hawkish, the dollar rebounded, Asian shares slipped and government bond yields jumped to multi-week highs on Thursday.
European shares rose as Fiat rebounded on hopes concerns about parallel to Volkswagen are overblown, Asian stocks were little as Chinese shares fell to the lowest level of 2017 after poor export data, and U.S. equity-index futures rose ahead of a deluge of bank earnings. The dollar is headed for a weekly loss and gold trades at the highest price in almost two months.