- The Japanese Yen fell on reports that Masayoshi Amamiya has been tapped by the Japanese government to replace Kuroda as governor of the Bank of Japan when Kuroda steps down later this year. Amamiya is a known dove and would be expected to maintain the Bank’s recent ultra-loose monetary policy. This expectation saw the Yen trade lower, and it is now the weakest currency in the Forex market, while the Australian Yen is the strongest, putting the AUD/JPY currency cross in focus.
- Friday’s market sentiment seems to have persisted into the new week, with stocks continuing to trade lower and the US Dollar maintaining its recent strength. Friday’s very strong NFP data has pushed market opinion back towards the view there will be more rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve later this year, after the FOMC meeting Wednesday had begun to convince markets the current cycle of rate hikes had completed.
- The S&P 500 Index made a golden cross last Thursday. This is typically a strong long-term buy signal, although the price has fallen since then.
- A few commodities are performing strongly and are reaching, or have recently reached, new long-term highs, such as Steel and Sugar. Trend traders may be interested in being long of these assets.
- The Reserve Bank of Australia is making a major policy release later today with its new Cash Rate and Rate Statement. The Bank is widely expected to hike rates by 0.25% to a new 10-year high rate of 3.35%.
- Daily confirmed new global coronavirus cases decreased last week for the seventh consecutive week.
- Total confirmed new coronavirus cases worldwide stand at over 676.2 million with an average case fatality rate of 1.00%. Daily new confirmed cases have fallen to a low level not seen since June 2020.