Credits: Image via Keoki Seu / Flickr
Today’s Economic events
- Australia MI leading index m/m -0.30% vs. -0.30% previously
- Australia CPI q/q 0.40% vs. 0.30%; trimmed mean CPI 0.60% vs. 0.50%
- Swiss UBS Consumption indicator 1.62 vs. 1.55
- Gfk consumer confidence 9.4 vs. 9.3
- UK Nationwide HPI m/m 0.30% vs. 0.60%
- UK BBA mortgage approvals 44.0k vs. 45.5k
Coming up
- US New home sales
- Crude Oil inventories
- FOMC statement
- RBNZ rate statement
The markets were trading mixed today with the Asian equities attempting to catch up to the gains in US and Europe yesterday. The Nikkei 225 closed with 2.72% gains while the Shanghai Composite fell -0.50% as investors turned cautious ahead of the Fed’s decision today. The Yen is trading flat today after closing on a bullish note yesterday. Prices remain range-bound with USDJPY trading near 118.45 handle at the time of writing and is so far range bound within yesterday’s price action. The commodity risk currencies continued to fare better. AUDUSD is up nearly 0.90% for the day, trading at 0.706. Data from Australia today included the quarterly inflation numbers which came out better than expected. The trimmed mean CPI which is closely looked at by the RBA was up 0.60% against estimates of 0.50%. The NZDUSD is up 0.46% for the day despite the RBNZ rate decision later tonight. NZDUSD is trading near the highs of 0.652 at the time of writing.
In Europe the equity markets are mixed. The German DAX is down -0.09% while the London FTSE100 is up a modest 0.02% for the day. There were not much of economic releases today but the Euro is trending higher. EURUSD is up 0.26% for the day, trading near 1.09 handle with prices moving steadily higher. The GBPUSD was weaker, down -0.07% for the day and trading near yesterday’s highs. So far, prices managed to post a session high near 1.435 at the time of writing.
The NY trading session opened on a quiet note with not much to go by. Economic data scheduled for later today includes the US new home sales numbers and the Fed statement later in the evening. Expectations are mostly in favor of a dovish statement being released by the Fed on account of the recent market turmoil and a modest set of economic data releases from the US.
On the commodity front, WTI Crude Oil is up 0.88% for the day, trading near the $30 handle. Prices remain volatile ahead of the weekly crude oil inventories report. However, the decline in Oil prices since yesterday’s high near $32.25 was short lived as Oil continued to fall steadily, pulling down the US equities as well. The Dow Jones futures are down -0.68% while the S&P500 is down -0.34% ahead of market open.
Gold prices which surged strongly yesterday are trading flat into the Fed’s statement. Gold prices are down -0.14% for the day, trading at $1118 an ounce.
