The markets started Monday’s trading session on a subdued note with the US Dollar attempting to post some gains across the board. The commodity risk currencies were the biggest losers of the day with both the AUD and the NZD losing out -0.48% and -0.79% for the day. AUDUSD opened today’s trading session gapping down lower at 0.7231 and continued to decline sharply to test the daily lows near 0.71625 before bouncing back, while the NZDUSD trended lower to test session lows near 0.65 before recovering off the lows. The recovery in the AUD, the NZD and the Canadian dollar came as Saudi minister said that the country was ready to negotiate with both OPEC and non-OPEC countries to stabilize oil prices. The surprising remarks came as Saudi Arabia was largely responsible for keeping the markets well supplied with Oil production in a bid to squeeze out the more expensive crude oil producing nations and companies alike. However, the weak Oil prices also managed to put a dent to the Saudi’s coffers. USDCAD tested session highs above 1.3427 before declining sharply, losing -0.05% for the day.
WTI Crude Oil jumped on the news, spiking to session highs of 42.74 before easing back. The commodity is up nearly 1.0% for the day.
The Japanese Yen was largely muted today with the Japanese markets closed on account of a bank holiday. USDJPY gained 0.23% for the day with a brief rally testing the daily highs near 123.23.
The European session was marked by the flash manufacturing and services PMI, all of which managed to beat expectations. The Euro was however unimpressed by the data as EURUSD touched a new low to 1.0599 briefly before recovering back higher. At the time of writing, EURUSD is down -0.09% for the day.
The British Pound continued its weak rout as the currency posted steady declines since the open. GBPUSD is down -033% for the day and dipped to daily lows near 1.5125 before managing to recover off the 8- day lows. Lack of any clear fundamentals from the UK kept the British Pound subdued since Friday’s decline.
The US trading session is relatively quiet with the flash manufacturing PMI and existing home sales numbers due for release. The main focus for today however remains the Federal Reserve’s mysterious closed door meeting, due to take place at 11:30 EST. The markets are not entirely sure what the meeting is about with the only known fact that the meeting is about “Review and determination by the Board of Governors of the advance and discount rates to be charged by the Federal Reserve Banks“. Market chatter speculates that the meeting could be either nothing big or perhaps the Fed’s discount rate hike which it charges to commercial banks. The details of the meeting will be posted later and the markets are likely to remain cautious until then.
