- Markets are dominated by news that the US Presidency and the House of Congress agreed a deal Sunday which will finally put an end to the debt ceiling crisis. The agreement stipulates both cuts in spending and a raising of the debt limit, and makes it clear the US will not default on 5th June. Both the President and congressional leaders are lobbying for the passage of the agreement through a congressional vote. Risk assets remain slightly higher on the news, after some stock markets made very strong gains at the end of last week, notably the NASDAQ 100 Index which broke strongly to reach a new 1-year high price..
- In the Forex market, the US Dollar is holding up and looking likely to rise further, against its long-term bearish trend. Action has been dominated so far today by weakness in the Australian Dollar and strength in the Euro. Trend traders will probably be looking for long trades in the USD/JPY currency pair which recently reached a new 6-month high price while short NZD/USD may also be attractive. The Kiwi remains weak after the RBNZ last week signalled that its terminal rate had been reached in a surprise move.
- Today might see above-average volume in the markets today as the USA and the UK return from their public holidays yesterday.
- There will be a release later today of US CB Consumer Confidence data (expected to show a small decline).
- There will be a release of Australian CPI (inflation) data tomorrow, which is expected to show a small increase in the annualized rate from 6.3% to 6.4%.