Forex Today: Fed set to trigger high volatility, oil falls, altcoins advance

Yohay Elam FXStreet

Here is what you need to know on Wednesday, September 18:

Tension is mounting ahead of the Federal Reserve decision later today. Economists expect a 25 basis point rate cut amid slowing global growth and investment. On the other hand, rising inflation, upbeat consumer activity, and the trade detente have triggered a rethink of sorts in bond markets – the odds of a rate reduction have dropped.
Currency movement has been subdued ahead of the event with EUR/USD trading below 1.11 and GBP/USD below 1.25.
Oil prices have been consolidating their losses after Saudi Arabia announced it is able to restore a substantial part of its lost oil production.
UK inflation figures are projected to show a decrease in headline Consumer Price Index. Canadian CPI is also projected to retreat. US building permits and housing starts are projected to hover around previous levels.
Cryptocurrencies: Ethereum and Ripple have been extending their gains as the Altcoin segment surges and while Bitcoin stagnates just above $10,000.

See Federal Reserve Preview September 17-18 FOMC: Even Odds

Author

Yohay Elam

FXStreet

Yohay is in Forex since 2008 when he founded Forex Crunch, a blog crafted in his free time that turned into a fully-fledged currency website later sold to Finixio.

EUR/USD weakens to four-week lows near 1.1750

EUR/USD’s selling pressure is gathering pace now, approaching the area of multi-week troughs in the mid-1.1700s on Thursday. The pair’s intense decline comes on the back of another day of solid gains in the US Dollar, particulalry exacerbated following firm prints from the weekly US labour market.

GBP/USD drops further, hovers around 1.3460

In line with the rest of its risk-linked peers, GBP/USD faces increasing selling pressure and recedes toward the 1.3460 region, or four-week lows, on Thursday. Cable’s persistent pullback comes in response to the continuation of the recovery in the Greenback amid a solid US data and a divided FOMC when it comes to the Fed’s rate path.

Gold clings to daily gains near $5,000

Gold struggles for direction and clings to its daily gains around the key $5,000 mark per troy ounce on Thursday. The precious metal sticks to the bid bias amid reignited geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and despite marked gains in the US Dollar and rising US Treasury yields across the curve.

Ripple slips toward $1.40 despite SG-FORGE tapping protocol for EUR CoinVertible

XRP extends its decline, nearing $1.40 support, as risk appetite fades in the broader market. SG-FORGE’s EUR CoinVertible launches on the XRP Ledger, leveraging the blockchain’s scalability, speed, security, and decentralization.

Hawkish Fed minutes and a market finding its footing

It was green across the board for US Stock market indexes at the close on Wednesday, with most S&P 500 names ending higher, adding 38 points (0.6%) to 6,881 overall. At the GICS sector level, energy led gains, followed by technology and consumer discretionary, while utilities and real estate posted the largest losses.

Injective token surges over 13% following the approval of the mainnet upgrade proposal

Injective price rallies over 13% on Thursday after the network confirmed the approval of its IIP-619 proposal. The green light for the mainnet upgrade has boosted traders’ sentiment, as the upgrade aims to scale Injective’s real-time Ethereum Virtual Machine architecture and enhance its capabilities to support next-generation payments.