Crude oil and Bitcoin sit at the top of the board this morning, while equity indices open the session on the back foot across both sides of the Atlantic.

Energy and Crypto

USOil rose 3.19% to 84.12 and UKOil added 3.02% to 89.49, the standout moves among covered instruments. Both benchmarks are up around 2.2% on the week and roughly 34-35% over the past year.

Bitcoin climbed 2.29% to 64,269, trimming its 12-month drop to -44.74%. Ethereum followed with a 1.68% gain to 1,905, and Solana added 1.79% to 75.82.

The smaller majors were mixed: XRP rose 0.98% to 1.0016 but is off 8.62% on the month, while Cardano slipped 0.57% to 0.1734 and remains down 81.23% on the year. Dogecoin ticked up 1.15% to 0.0701.

Currencies

The dollar is soft against the commodity and Scandinavian blocs. USDNOK fell 0.36% to 9.4055, extending a 2.48% monthly decline, and USDSEK eased 0.13% to 9.5045.

EUR/USD was essentially flat at 1.15753, up 1.32% on the month. GBP/USD held at 1.35381, and USD/JPY firmed 0.10% to 159.38, though the yen pair is down 1.93% over the past month.

The Australian dollar showed some strength, with AUD/USD up 0.28% to 0.71033 and 9.39% higher on the year. EUR/AUD slipped 0.30% to 1.62848. Among the emerging majors, USDMXN edged up 0.08% to 17.031, still down 2.89% on the month.

Metals and Indices

Precious metals extended their run. Gold rose 1.06% to 4,416.53, now up 10.55% on the month and 32.59% on the year. Silver added 1.47% to 65.75, carrying a striking 72.8% annual gain, and platinum firmed 1.25% to 1,775.92.

Equities told the opposite story. The IBEX 35 led losers down 0.71% to 19,976, with the CAC 40 off 0.70% to 8,576 and the DAX 40 down 0.68% to 26,301. In the US, the S&P 500 fell 0.60% to 7,744.88, the Dow slipped 0.55% to 53,448 and the Nasdaq 100 eased 0.46% to 29,980.98.

Asia diverged: the Hang Seng rose 0.39% to 25,374 while the Nikkei 225 was flat at 68,947, holding a 57.32% year-on-year advance.

The split between rising crude and precious metals and softening equity indices is the clearest feature of the open.