Monday Market

Here are the top five things you need to know in financial markets on Monday, January 29:

1. Dollar Crawls Up at Start of Busy Week

The U.S. dollar edged higher against a basket of currencies, recovering somewhat from last week's turbulence, as investors looked ahead to a week packed with U.S. data and a central bank policy decision.

The dollar index, which gauges the U.S. currency against a basket of six major rivals, rose almost 0.2% to 89.10, extending its rebound from a three-year nadir of 88.25 set on Thursday, when Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin talked up the benefits of a weaker currency.

Monday's calendar features a report on personal income and spending, which includes the personal consumption expenditures inflation data, the Fed's preferred metric for inflation, due at 8:30AM ET (1330GMT).

This week's calendar also features a Federal Reserve policy meeting, which will be the last under the leadership of Janet Yellen before she hands the chairmanship over to Jerome Powell, as well as the monthly nonfarm payrolls report.

1. Global Bond Yields Push Higher; U.S. 10-Year Bond Hits 2.72%
   
   Global bond yields continued this month's rally, with the yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-year note hitting its highest level in almost four years.

The 10-year note rose to an intraday high of 2.722%, a level not seen since April 2014. It was last at 2.712%, up 5.0 basis points, or roughly 1.9%.

The benchmark yield has not been above 3% since late 2013 and some investors believe that level will be tested in the months ahead amid expectations that an economy boosted by tax reform will compel further policy tightening from the Federal Reserve this year.

Meanwhile, in Europe, bond yields in Germany jumped, with the 10-year Bund reaching multi-year highs, after weekend comments from Dutch central bank president Klaas Knot that the European Central Bank should be clear on ending asset purchases after September.

1. World Stocks Pull Back Amid Rising Yields

Global stock markets pulled back, as investors kept an eye on movements in the bond market.

Asian equities closed mixed, with a rise in shares in Australia and South Korea offset by declines in Hong Kong and China.

In Europe, the majority of the continent's bourses traded in negative territory, as investors digested the latest batch of corporate earnings.

On Wall Street, U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open, as investors paused for breath ahead of a hectic week for earning reports.

More than a fifth of the S&P 500 companies release earnings this week, with reports from tech heavyweights Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) likely to garner most of the attention.

Results from Dow components Boeing (NYSE:BA), AT&T (NYSE:T) and McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) as well as big oil firms ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) and Chevron (NYSE:CVX) will also be in focus.

1. Bitcoin Prices Tumble After Japan Heist

Bitcoin prices were on the backfoot, after a heist of nearly $500 million from Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck last week spurred calls for more regulation.

Bitcoin was last down around 5% at $11,387 on the Bitfinex exchange.

Japan’s Financial Services Agency said Monday that it will inspect all cryptocurrency exchanges and ordered improvements to Coincheck, which suspended trading on Friday after hackers stole $530 million worth of virtual coins in one of the biggest-ever thefts of digital money.

Coincheck said in a statement on Sunday that it will refund its customers around 46 billion yen ($425M), which covers nearly 90% of the coins lost in the attack. Around 260,000 customers were reported to be affected by the theft.

The theft has underlined security and regulatory concerns around digital currencies amid an exponential increase in demand and price during recent months.

1. Oil Edges Lower Amid Uptick in U.S. Output

Crude prices edged lower, pulling back from their strongest levels since late 2014, as oil traders weighed a steady increase in U.S. output against OPEC's ongoing efforts to drain the market of excess supplies.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures shed 5 cents to $66.09 per barrel, while Brent futures dipped 35 cents to $69.80 per barrel. Both contracts hit their best levels since Dec. 2014 late last week.

Fears that rising U.S. output would dampen OPEC’s efforts to rid the market of excess supplies prevented prices from rising much further, according to market participants.

The number of oil drilling rigs climbed by 12 to 759 last week, General Electric (NYSE:GE)'s Baker Hughes energy services firm said in its closely followed report on Friday. That marked the biggest weekly increase in the rig count since March.