US futures mixed on impressive Q3 bank earnings

US futures are mixed as bank earnings start streaming-in. JP Morgan, the biggest bank in the US by assets, reported a profit of more than $9.44 billion in the third quarter and revenue of more than $29 billion. The revenue was almost a billion dollars more than what analysts polled by Reuters were expecting. It also reduced its reserves for bad loans by about $569 million. Blackrock, the world’s biggest fund manager, reported an 18% revenue jump as its asset under management swelled to a record $7.8 trillion. Its revenue and net profit jumped to $4.37 billion and $1.36 billion, respectively. Dow Jones futures fell by 0.32% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 rose by almost 1%.

The British pound declined slightly as investors reacted to the disappointing jobs numbers from the UK. The data showed that the number of redundancies in the country increased by 114k in the third quarter, the worst figure since 1995. At the same time, the number of Britons filing for jobless claims increased to 2.7 million as the unemployment rate jumped to 4.5%. Analysts believe that the situation will get worse as the government winds-down its furlough program. Still, according to the ONS, the number of vacancies has risen, which is a good thing.

The euro was little changed today as traders reacted to the mild German inflation data. The numbers, published by Destatis, showed that the country’s consumer price index declined by 0.2% in September. The prices also fell by 0.2% on a year-on-year basis. Further, the harmonised index of consumer prices fell by 0.4% on a MoM and YoY basis. Meanwhile, data from the ZEW Institute showed that current conditions improved from -66.2 to -59.5 while the economic sentiment fell from 77.4 to 56.1. Elsewhere, in the United States, the headline CPI rose by 1.4% while the core CPI rose by 1.7% in September.

EUR/USD

The EUR/USD pair is trading at 1.1783, which is along the ascending pink trendline on the four-hour chart. The price is also along the 25-day and 15-day exponential moving averages while the signal and main lines of the moving average convergence divergence (MACD) indicator. It is also above the important support level of 1.1750. Therefore, the price is likely to continue falling as bears attempt to test 1.1750. Alternatively, the pair may struggle to move below the trendline and continue rising above yesterday’s high of 1.1832.

GBP/USD

The GBP/USD price is trading at 1.3025. On the four-hour chart, the price is slightly above the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level. It is also above the ascending trendline and the 25-day EMA. The RSI has failed to reach the overbought level of 70 while the Average Directional Movement Index (ADX) has started to fall. Therefore, like the EUR/USD pair, the pair could either move lower and test the support at 1.2850 or continue with the upward trend.

GER30

The German DAX index declined to an intraday low of €13,055 from yesterday’s high of €13,170. On the four-hour chart, the price is between the middle and upper lines of the Donchian channels. It is also above the ascending pink trendline. The Average True Range (ATR), which is a good measure of volatility has also dropped to the lowest level in months. Therefore, the DAX is likely to continue falling as bears aim to push it below €13,000.