Japanese stocks are racing higher with the Nikkei now up 1.5% to the best levels of the year.

S&P 500 futures are up 16 points (+0.4%) after a 15 point gain. I expected that vaccine efficacy news might hurt sentiment but on the flipside, it appears that Biden and Congress are leaning into a big stimulus package and that’s dominating sentiment.

Zooming out, USD/JPY is flirting with the 200-day moving average. CitiFX is out with a note highlighting heavy options expiries at 105 on thinner liquidity around the lunar new year.