Forex Market Overview
Last week was surprisingly productive for the US dollar, which found itself outperforming all other major currencies. With plenty of announcements, reports, and decisions from the government and Federal Reserve on the horizon, the dollar will remain a currency worth watching.
The Canadian dollar also exceeded many trader’s expectations, especially during a time where petroleum prices have been unpredictable. Meanwhile, the euro and Swiss franc had sluggish weeks, which was largely caused by a stimulant avoidant European Central Bank.
While the Japanese yen and British pound both had positive movements last week—even in the face of growing Brexit tensions—the Australian and New Zealand dollars saw quite a bit of undesirable movement. Following several negative reports, New Zealand is hoping that upcoming GDP announcements can effectively change their fortune. As we continue to move to the close of another quarter, keep an eye on quarterly reports from the world’s top currencies.
Taking a Closer Look at AUD/JPY
On the charts, the AUD/JPY pair has officially broken below the key support level of 75.20, which may have opened doors for further drops towards the lows of January’s flash crash at around 72. This has been a key support since 2009, so unless a full-on trade war breaks out the reck the international economies, we're expecting the pair would rebound after testing this level.
AUD/JPY Technical Analysis on Monthly Chart - Approaching Key Support Below Ichimoku Cloud
The pair remains below the Ichimoku Cloud across all time-frames.
Crypto Market Overview
The main story coming from the crypto industry last week was Facebook’s talks of introducing its own blockchain called GlobalCoin. Though there still are plenty of details that need to be figured out, the prospect of one of will undeniably benefit the industry as a whole.
Of course, we have Doctor Dooms of the world such as Nouriel Roubini who says this has nothing to do with Bitcoin, but we tend to ignore them. Unsurprisingly, most coins had a positive week last week, reflecting Bitcoin’s rise of more than $1,000. Though a lot of this progress was simply making up for ground lost the week before, Bitcoin has once again broken the $9,000 and has reached a new high for the year.
On a more negative note, roughly 40 different cryptocurrencies are currently dealing with regulatory issues coming from FINRA. Though these conflicts may have added some barriers to entering the industry, they may also force FINRA to some important questions that are yet to be answered.
Elsewhere in the crypto industry, Russia’s central bank announced its own interest in creating a digital currency. This news, interestingly, coincided with breaking news of Russian hackers conducting the largest instance of crypto theft to-date.
Stock Market Overview
The S&P 500 experienced a bit of a down week last week, dipping below 2,900 points last Tuesday and remaining below that mark for the rest of the week. Other major American exchanges experienced mildly depressing weeks as well, largely due to ongoing geopolitical issues and falling oil prices.
Most analysts are predicting above-average levels of volatility early in the week as traders eagerly prepare for announcements from the Fed. Following the Fed’s next meeting, which is scheduled for this Wednesday, prices may break out into a new range.
Stocks To Watch...
Following actions from the United States government, Chinese tech giant Huawei is expected to lose roughly $30 billion in future revenues. The company has remained at the center of a US-China trade conflict that is yet to be resolved. As the world’s two largest economies, we’ll pay close attention to this story over the next few weeks.
Lastly, Sprint (NYSE:S) and T-Mobile (NASDAQ:TMUS) are inching closer to a merger deal, though there are still many factors yet to be determined. If DISH Network (NASDAQ:DISH) is unable to acquire some of the companies’ key assets, dealmakers may need to get a little bit more creative.