- The Reserve Bank of Australia surprised the market a few hours ago by passing on a widely expected 0.25% rate hike. The RBA stated that while it expected further tightening of monetary policy may still be needed, it wanted to see more results from its recent series of rate hikes before deciding on whether rates need to rise further. The Australian Dollar weakened slightly on the news but has not declined by much so far.
- In the Forex market, the US Dollar fell yesterday in line with its long-term bearish trend but has regained some ground over recent hours. Over today’s Asian session, the Canadian Dollar looked like the strongest major currency, while the Japanese Yen was the weakest. Volatility seems to be dropping in the US Dollar, putting currency crosses into greater focus.
- The GBP/USD currency pair rose yesterday to reach a level only about 20 pips below its multi-month high, suggesting we could be in line for a significant bullish breakout in this currency pair over the coming days.
- Several soft commodities are performing well, with the Sugar ETF CANE ending yesterday at a new multi-year high closing price.
- The price of WTI Crude Oil is holding up above $80 following OPEC’s announcement of a surprise production cut over the weekend.
- Global stock markets are mixed but were broadly bullish in the USA yesterday, with the S&P 500 Index rising again.
- Today will see \ releases of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s monthly policy report and US JOLTS Job Openings data.
- Yesterday’s release of Swiss CPI (inflation) data showed a stronger fall than had been expected, from a month-on-month increase of 0.7% to 0.2%.
- Yesterday’s release of US ISM Manufacturing data came in a little weaker than had been expected.
- It is a public holiday in China today.