- The Reserve Bank of Australia announced yesterday it is ending its asset purchase (QE) program and maintaining its interest rate at 0.1%. These moves had been expected by analysts. The value of the AUD experienced some volatility at the announcement but after two hours was almost unchanged.
- Global stocks mostly rallied yesterday, with the S&P 500 Index closing above its 200-day moving average for the first time in seven days.
- WTI Crude Oil yesterday made its highest closing price in 7 years, making it attractive to trend traders. Some analysts see Russia/Ukraine tensions as helping keep the price of crude oil high. The Asian session saw its off-hours price continue to advance.
- In the commodities markets, several agricultural commodities such as corn, soybeans, and cotton continue bullishly breaking to new high prices. These may be good long-term trend trades on the long side.
- In the Forex market, we saw a reversal in recent US dollar bullishness. Today, the New Zealand dollar, the Japanese yen, and the euro are the strongest major currencies, while the US dollar is the weakest. This may not last long as the true long-term trend in the Forex market is in favor of the US dollar.
- Major cryptocurrencies are continuing to recover. Ethereum is moving up more strongly than Bitcoin, suggesting Ethereum would be likely to make a better long trade than Bitcoin right now.
- Today will bring releases of Canadian GDP data, US ISM Manufacturing PMI data, and New Zealand unemployment data.
- Daily new coronavirus cases globally fell last week for the first time in two months, suggesting that the omicron variant wave may have already peaked, although it is too early to make that call with real hope of accuracy.
- It is estimated that 61% of the world’s population has received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccination.
- Total confirmed new coronavirus cases worldwide stand at over 377.9 million with an average case fatality rate of 1.51%.
- The rate of new coronavirus infections appears to now be increasing most quickly in Algeria, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bhutan, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Georgia, Germany, Guatemala, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Jordan, South Korea, Kosovo, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the Ukraine.