Morning Update – 02/03/16 – by Arjun Lakhanpal

Morning all.. A very strong close on Wall St as data impressed again after a strong ISM.. S&P closed up an impressive 2.39% and Asia followed. The Nikkei up 4.1% this morning and AUD took off after strong GDP data.. It seems global data is turning. In the US away from manufacturing, Construction spending was another bright spot as it rose by 1.5% mom in January (vs. 0.3% expected; 0.6% prior). Auto Sales rebounded in February after a softer start to the year where seasonally adjusted sales reached 17.5million (16-year high for the month). USDJPY is higher again this morning after strong gains in the US session and a high so far of 114.36. 115 targeted now by many. AUD made impressive gains after the GDP release and EURAUD got hammered. It’s a very quiet data day ahead in Europe, with the only data of note being the Eurozone PPI number (expected: -2.9% YoY) for January and Spanish jobless claims (expected: 7.9k) for February. Data out of the US should spark more interest with ADP employment change data for February due (expected: 188k), which should be watched closely ahead of the employment report on Friday. The Fed is also releasing the Beige book today. Aside from economic data, the release of the remaining results from Super Tuesday in the US should take centre stage. Good luck..