- Energies are seeing a strong rally, with Gasoline futures reaching a new 9-month high and WTI Crude Oil futures hitting a new 3-month high yesterday, on evidence of supply shortages. This will be of interest to trend traders, especially Gasoline futures.
- In the Forex market, the strongest major currency today is the Australian Dollar, while the New Zealand Dollar is the weakest. Forex markets may not move much ahead of tomorrow’s FOMC release and expected rate hike, with the US Dollar likely to consolidate in the meantime.
- The Chinese stock market has rallied strongly today on optimism that greater economic stimulus will be announced by the Chinese government, with the Hang Seng Index closing up by more than 4% on the day.
- US Flash Manufacturing PMI data released yesterday was better than expected, while the Services data was worse. Overall, it was notably better than the comparable European data released earlier in the day.
- There will be releases later today of Australian CPI data (expected to fall from 5.6% to 5.5%) and US CB Consumer Confidence data.
- The Bank of Japan is expected to maintain its negative interest rate of -0.1% at its policy meeting at the end of this week, but opinion is split on whether it will tamper with its cap on benchmark yields.