Markets are becoming increasingly cautious as the key FOMC meeting begins to dominate the thoughts of traders. It is notable this time around though that in the past few trading sessions as we approach the meeting, the US dollar has been under a little more pressure this time around. The negotiations between Greece and the Eurozone have also taken a turn as Greek prime minister Tsipras made changes to the negotiation team, widely seen as a move to reduce the influence of Yanis Varoufakis (the Greek finance minister) who has been seen as being fairly obstructive to progress. On Wall Street there was a cautious mood with the S&P 500 which was 0.4% lower. In Asia, markets were again fairly mixed, with the Nikkei slightly higher by 0.4% despite Japanese retail sales disappointing markets. The European markets are just giving back some of yesterday’s gains in early trading today.
In forex trading there is still a very slightly dollar negative look to moves without any real standout performer. Traders will be increasingly looking to position themselves for the FOMC tomorrow. Before that though, UK traders will be watching for the first look at UK GDP for Q1. Expectation is for the preliminary number to see a slight dip to +0.5% from last quarter’s +0.6%, with sterling a likely mover on the news. US Consumer Confidence is also out today with the expectation of a further improvement to 102.5 from 101.3 last month.
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