German Election: Race to succeed Merkel tightens – Latest polls

Dhwani Mehta FXStreet

Heading into a German Federal election on Sunday, the latest polls suggest that the race to the country’s leadership tightens, as the key candidates hold their final rallies. Sunday’s vote will mark the end of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s 16 years in office.

Exit polls will be released when voting ends at 1600GMT on Sunday and results will trickle in throughout the night.

Source: Al Jazeera

Poll predictions on Saturday point to the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) holding a small but narrowing lead over Merkel's party, the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), per CNN News.

The SPD is standing at 25.2%, predicted to gain 4.7 percentage points compared to the 2017 national elections. This lead could mean an end to a 20-year-long downward trend for the Social Democrats. Meanwhile, Merkel’s CDU is behind SPD at 22.4%, according to the latest polls. The Greens are currently seen lagging at 15.9%, in third place.

German Elections Preview: Three EUR/USD scenarios for the post-Merkel dawn

EUR/USD booked a third straight weekly loss ahead of Sunday’s German election, thanks to the Fed’s tapering signal and the persistent uncertainty around the indebted China Evergrande Group.

The currency pair found strong support around 1.1685 levels, finishing the week at 1.1720, as the bulls failed to find acceptance above the 1.1750 psychological barrier.

Author

Dhwani Mehta

FXStreet

Residing in Mumbai (India), Dhwani is a Senior Analyst and Manager of the Asian session at FXStreet. She has over 10 years of experience in analyzing and covering the global financial markets, with specialization in Forex and commodities markets.

AUD/USD flirts with 0.7000, lowest since early August amid bullish USD

AUD/USD hits a fresh low since early August during the Asian session on Friday and looks vulnerable near 0.7000 after breaking below the 200-day SMA overnight. Against the backdrop of the hawkish Fed, a two-day rally in oil prices revives inflation fears and continues to push US bond yields to multi-year highs. Adding to this, geopolitical risks lift the US Dollar to a two-month high, overshadowing RBA rate hike bets and weighing on the pair.

USD/JPY pulls back from three-week high after failing near 159.00

USD/JPY edges lower during the Asian session on Friday, stalling its recent strong move to a three-week high of 159.00 as Japanese Yen bears turn cautious amid intervention fears. Meanwhile, the US Dollar retains a strong bullish undertone as the Fed's hawkish outlook and oil-driven inflation fears continue to push US bond yields to multi-year peaks. Furthermore, the BoJ's dovish rate hike last week might cap JPY and support spot prices.

Gold treads water below $4,300

Gold grabs some buying attention and advances marginally at the end of the week, partially retracing the weekly decline, although it is still navigating below the key $4,300 mark per troy ounce. The fresh selling bias on the Greenback and the modest decline in US Treasury yields appear to support the humble advance in the precious metal.

Crypto Today: Bitcoin and Ethereum edge lower, XRP extends recovery as macro headwinds weigh

The broader cryptocurrency market is consolidating on Friday, with Bitcoin paring losses slightly above $84,000. Ethereum declines in tandem with BTC. Ripple (XRP), meanwhile, paints a different picture.

Fed vs BoJ: Both hiked. The market only believes one of them – and the chart shows which

The Federal Reserve (Fed) and the Bank of Japan (BoJ) have just done something remarkably similar. Both central banks raised interest rates by 25 basis points (bps) last week, both are confronting inflation risks, and both signal that future decisions will depend on incoming economic data.

Fed vs BoJ: Both hiked. The market only believes one of them – and the chart shows which

The Fed and the BoJ have just done something remarkably similar. Both central banks raised interest rates by 25 bps last week, both are confronting inflation risks, and both signal that future decisions will depend on incoming economic data.