Cautious mood prevails ahead of Fed meeting

Dmitry Lukashov IFC Markets

Top daily news

Stock index futures are mostly lower currently ahead of Fed’ two-day policy meeting starting today after Wall Street eked gains Monday. Amazon shares added 1.18% while the company denied that its job posting for a digital currency executive meant that it will accept the token for payments this year – causing bitcoin decline below $37,000 after briefly surpassing $40,000 , Tesla rose 2.2% as its quarterly profit soared to record $1.1 Billion.

Forex news

Currency Pair	Change
EUR USD	-0.19%
GBP USD	-0.29%
USD JPY	-0.33%
AUD USD	-0.98%

The Dollar strengthening has resumed currently. The live dollar index data show the ICE US Dollar index, a measure of the dollar’s strength against a basket of six rival currencies, lost 0.2% on Monday as new homes sales fell to lowest level since pandemic due to high costs and low supply.

Both GBP/USD and EUR/USD reversed their sliding Monday despite Ifo Institute’s monthly survey showing German business sentiment fell unexpectedly in July, Both are lower currently. USD/JPY reversed its advancing Monday while AUD/USD reversed its retreating with Australian dollar lower against the Greenback currently and yen higher.

Stock market news

Indices	Change
Dow Jones Index	-0.5%
Nikkei Index	+0.77%
Hang Seng Index	-4.8%
Australian Stock Index	+0.43%

Futures on three main US stock indexes are down currently ahead of the Conference Board consumer confidence data at 16:00 CET today while US 10-year Treasury yields inched up to 1.281% currently. All three major Wall Street stock benchmarks ended marginally higher at record closing highs for a second straight session yesterday: the three main stock benchmarks recorded gains in the range of 0.03% to 0.24% Monday. Alphabet, Apple and Microsoft are due to publish quarterly results later today.

European stock indexes are mixed currently after ending marginally lower Monday with healthcare shares leading losses. Asian indexes are mostly lower today with Hong Kong’s Heng Seng Index leading losses as investor confidence is undermined by concerns over Chinese regulatory crackdowns.

Commodity market news

Commodities	Change
Brent Crude Oil	+0.74%
WTI Crude	+0.96%

Brent is rebounding currently ahead of data from the American Petroleum Institute later today. Prices closed mixed Monday as coronavirus cases kept rising over the weekend, with reports from India also pointing to only muted oil demand. US West Texas Intermediate WTI slid 0.2% but is higher currently. Brent added 0.5% to $74.50 a barrel on Monday.

Gold market news

Metals	Change
Gold	-0.1%

Gold prices are edging lower currently. August gold slipped 0.1% to $1799.20 an ounce on Monday, the lowest finish in nearly three weeks.

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Author

Dmitry Lukashov

IFC Markets

Dimtry Lukashov is the senior analyst of IFC Markets. He started his professional career in the financial market as a trader interested in stocks and obligations.

EUR/USD recedes to daily lows near 1.1850

EUR/USD keeps its bearish momentum well in place, slipping back to the area of 1.1850 to hit daily lows on Monday. The pair’s continuation of the leg lower comes amid decent gains in the US Dollar in a context of scarce volatility and thin trade conditions due to the inactivity in the US markets.

GBP/USD resumes the downtrend, back to the low-1.3600s

GBP/USD rapidly leaves behind Friday’s decent advance, refocusing on the downside and retreating to the 1.3630 region at the beginning of the week. In the meantime, the British Pound is expected to remain under the microscope ahead of the release of the key UK labour market report on Tuesday.

Gold looks inconclusive around $5,000

Gold partially fades Friday’s strong recovery, orbiting around the key $5,000 region per troy ounce in a context of humble gains in the Greenback on Monday. Additing to the vacillating mood, trade conditions remain thin amid the observance of the Presidents Day holiday in the US.

Bitcoin consolidates as on-chain data show mixed signals

Bitcoin price has consolidated between $65,700 and $72,000 over the past nine days, with no clear directional bias. US-listed spot ETFs recorded a $359.91 million weekly outflow, marking the fourth consecutive week of withdrawals.

The week ahead: Key inflation readings and why the AI trade could be overdone

It is likely to be a quiet start to the week, with US markets closed on Monday for Presidents Day. European markets are higher across the board and gold is clinging to the $5,000 level after the tamer than expected CPI report in the US reduced haven flows to precious metals.

XRP steadies in narrow range as fund inflows, futures interest rise

Ripple is trading in a narrow range between $1.45 (immediate support) and $1.50 (resistance) at the time of writing on Monday. The remittance token extended its recovery last week, peaking at $1.67 on Sunday from the weekly open at $1.43.