NY Open: The big Monday freeze

The overnight shift to risk aversion trades from the soft China trade data, tomorrow’s UK Brexit vote, and the lack of actionable top tier economic data are keeping traders around the sidelines.

EURUSD failed to sustain gains on the break of resistance in the 1.1510-30 last week. However, the uptrend line from the beginning of January is intact above 1.1440. A break above 1.1510 will lead back to 1.1570, but it will take a breakthrough 1.1640 to get EUR bulls excited.

Wall Street opened in the red despite better than expected earnings from Citigroup (C: NYSE). Traders were uneasy with the China trade data, and Trump’s tweeted threat to Turkey, the ongoing US government shutdown, and European equity market losses. Citigroup posted earnings of $1.61/share, easily beating the $1.55/share that was predicted, which led to a 1.14% rise in the stock price in early trading.

The adage “all that glisters is not gold” may be true for some things. In the case of Newmont Mining Corporation (NEM: NYSE), all that glisters is Canada’s Goldcorp Inc. (GG: NYSE). The Denver based NEM announced it “will acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Goldcorp in a stock-for-stock transaction valued at $10 billion.” NEM’s press released touted the strategic rationale for the deal included experienced management, unparalleled leverage to the gold price, and a world-class portfolio of mining properties with production of 6 to 7 million ounces per year. It the deal goes through the new company, Newmont Goldberg will become the world’s biggest gold producers, surpassing Barrick Gold.