Optimism across global markets continued in the premarket hours today as investors cheered the shifting favor towards Britain’s ‘Remain’ campaign ahead of the final referendum this week.
Remain campaign leading
Daily Telegraph’s ORB poll showed that 53% of the voters support ‘Remain’, up by 5% from the previous poll. NatCen, a social research body, posted similar results with 53% favoring Remain and 47% supporting Leave. On the other hand, YouGov showed the ‘Leave’ campaign ahead.
However, markets focused on the polls favoring ‘Remain’, which helped Asian markets end their session positively. European markets were mixed at the open while U.S. Futures added small early gains. During premarket hours, NASDAQ (INDEXNASDAQ:NDX) Futures advanced 0.48% to 4,410.88 while S&P 500 INDEX (INDEXCBOE:SPX) Futures added 0.47% gains to trade at 2,084.
Oil reverses on supply worries
Apart from the UK referendum, traders are closely watching for Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen’s comments later in the day. She is set to testify before the Senate Banking Committee. It was only last week when the Fed had announced no change in rates while lowering its projection for rate hikes in 2017 and 2018. Alongside this, a speech by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi will also provide key inputs to traders.
iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil Total Return (NYSEARCA:OIL) headed south after traders moved away from Brexit concerns to refocus on supply issues that surround the commodity. The latest update on the status of U.S. stockpiles is awaited, which will set the trajectory for oil. The American Petroleum Institute is due to release weekly data today while markets anticipate crude reserves to show a decline of 1.9 million barrels during the previous week.
In currencies, the U.S. Dollar (CURRENCY:USD) maintained a lead over Yen, which reflects diminished risk appetite for safe assets. A stronger dollar and renewed optimism around the referendum caused the SPDR Gold Trust (ETF) (NYSEARCA:GLD) to extend losses for a second consecutive day.
