Forex Trading For Beginners 2021: The GBP is the strongest and the AUD is the weakest as NA session begins

The USD is weaker. Bitcoin surges. Covid fears increase

The GBP is the strongest and the AUD is the weakest as NA session begins. The USD is weaker on concerns on the Covid Delta variant. Cases in the US rose to the highest levels since April. The White House is saying they will maintain existing travel restrictions at this point There are signs, however, that the UK wave was peaking. There are 30 states in the US that are still less than half fully vacinated (HMMMM or UGH).

In other news, there are reports that Amazon may accept bitcoin (Amazon shares are up 0.61% in premarket trading) which led to the digital currency's price rising sharply to nearly $40,000 over the weekend.

Stocks are trading lower and threatening to break the four day win streak that saw major indices close at record levels on Friday. It is a huge week for earnings with Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Tesla (they will release after the close today), McDonald's, Starbucks, Alphabet as some of the major companies that will be releasing. The Federal Reserve will have their 2-day policy meeting start on Tuesday, and end with the rate announcement at 2 PM ET on Wednesday. Today, new-home sales (800K estimate versus 769K last month, and the Dallas Fed manufacturing business index (last month 31.1) are the only releases. US yields are lower after the rise seen last week.

The USD is weaker. Bitcoin surges. Covid fears increase

Looking at other markets:

Spot gold is up $3.84 or 0.21% at $1805.48
Spot silver is up $0.14 or 0.55% at $25.29
WTI crude oil futures is trading at $71.90. The high price reached $72.43. The low extended to $70.56. That is down around $0.15 on the day
The price of bitcoin is trading at $38,564 up over $6000 on the day. The high price extended to $39,748.12. The low price fell traded as low as $34,244

In the premarket for US stocks, the major indices are modestly lower after the record closes for all major indices on Friday:

Dow is down -73.55 points. The index closed up +238.34 points on Friday
S&P index is down -7.25 points after Friday's gain of +44.33 points
NASDAQ is down -20 points. The index gained +152.39 point on Friday

In the European equity markets, the major indices are mixed:

German DAX, -0.3%
France's CAC, unchanged
UK's FTSE 100, -0.11%
Spain's Ibex, +0.3%
Italy's FTSE MIB, +0.3%

In the US debt market, yields are lower with the 10 year down about -3 basis points after rising toward 1.30% last week. The low yield in the cycle move down in July bottomed around 1.13% at the lows, before rotating back to the upside over the last week or so..