During the Asian trading session, the US dollar weakened slightly against other currencies after the publication of the Fed's Beige Book. According to the report, the US economy and labor market are strengthening. However, this did not convince the financial markets participants that inflation in the country would be restored. Nevertheless, the US dollar index (#DX) moved away from the minimum over three months and closed in the positive zone yesterday. The euro fell after ECB representative Ewald Novotny said that the rapid strengthening of the euro against the US currency "is not useful."
During yesterday's trading session, the Bank of Canada published a decision on the monetary policy, according to which interest rates were raised by 25 basis points to 1.25%, as expected. The head of the Bank of Canada Poloz said that a sharp increase in interest rates could adversely affect the economic growth. Trading activity and volatility on the USD/CAD currency pair increased significantly.
The "black gold" prices are stable. At the moment, futures for the WTI crude oil are testing $64 per barrel. We recommend paying attention to the report on crude oil inventories in the US at 18:00 (GMT+2:00).
Market Indicators
Yesterday "bullish" sentiment prevailed in the US stock market. The main indices closed the trading session in the positive zone: SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) (+0.95%), SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DIA) (+1.27%), PowerShares QQQ Trust Series 1 (NASDAQ:QQQ) (+1.77%).
The 10-year US government bonds yield continues to show positive dynamics. At the moment the indicator is at the level of 2.58-2.60%.
The news feed on 2018.01.18:
- Statistics on the real estate market in the US at 15:30 (GMT+2:00);
- The number of initial jobless claims in the US at 15:30 (GMT+2:00);
- Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index at 15:30 (GMT+2:00);
- ADP Nonfarm Employment Change at 15:30 (GMT+2:00).