Headlines:
Markets:
- AUD leads, GBP lags on the day
- European equities slightly higher; S&P 500 futures up 0.3%
- US 10-year yields up 0.8 bps to 3.753%
- Gold up 0.1% to $1,962.44
- WTI crude down 2.4% to $68.50
- Bitcoin down 1.9% to $25,953
It was a quiet session as markets get settled into what will be a blockbuster week coming up over the next few days.
There is a lack of key events and data today but that will all start to change from tomorrow onwards. Central banks are back in the spotlight and all eyes will be on the Fed in particular, with the ECB and BOJ policy decisions also in focus.
Major currencies aren’t showing much poise and the dollar is just marginally lower as the changes today are relatively minor at best. You can’t really blame traders for that as convictions are low at the moment, awaiting the key risk events to come.
EUR/USD did push up from 1.0750 to 1.0790 but is now keeping little changed around 1.0765 while GBP/USD moved up to test 1.2600 before slipping back to 1.2565 at the moment.
The loonie and aussie are the two more interesting currencies from a technical standpoint, testing some limits against the dollar as noted in the posts above.
Besides that, equities are steady alongside bonds so there isn’t much to work with for now. But the S&P 500 may look poised to test its August high of 4,325 so keep an eye out for that later in US trading.
Elsewhere, oil is suffering a poor start to the new week with a big slide of over 2% to $68.50 and is now testing key technical support from its 200-week moving average again. That level is where the drop in March and May were held, so it will be a big moment for oil traders over the next few days.