Markets subdued after Wall Street retreat - 21.5.2025

The Dollar weakening is intact currently. 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, lost 0.4% on Tuesday.

Both EUR/USD and GBP/USD slowed their climbing on Tuesday while European Central Bank reported euro area current account surplus rose in March. Both Pound and euro are higher against the dollar currently. AUD/USD joined USD/JPY’s slowed sliding on Tuesday with both the yen and Australian dollar higher against the Greenback currently.

Futures on three main US stock indexes are down currently ahead of Federal Open Market Committee members’ speeches today starting with Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin’s speech scheduled for 16:15 CET. The yield on benchmark 10-year US notes is up at 4.513%. Stock indexes ended lower on Tuesday recording daily losses in the range from -0.4% to -0.27% as Congress debated president Donald Trump’s tax cut proposal.

European stock indexes futures are mixed currently after closing higher on Tuesday while a member of the European Central Bank’s Executive Board Isabel Schnabel wrote euro area has become a safe haven in the aftermath of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs policies. Asian indexes futures are mostly retreating today with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index leading gains while China’s commerce ministry issued a statement criticizing US restrictions on Chinese computing chips.

Brent is up currently. There reports Israel may be preparing a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said US demands that Tehran stop enriching uranium are "excessive and outrageous.". Prices slipped yesterday. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) will release its US crude oil inventory data at 16:30 CET today. The US oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) slipped 0.2% but is higher currently. Brent lost 0.2% to $65.38 a barrel on Tuesday.