Reserve Bank of Australia released its detailed record of previous meetings or minutes, which indicated hard deliberation by RBA officials before cutting rates and minimised the probability that rates will be cut again. It boosted the Aussie which surged 0.8% against the US Dollar and traded at 0.7346 by 06:00 GMT on Tuesday.
The Russian Federation's GDP dropped 1.2% year-over-year in the first three months of 2016, the Federal Service for State Statistics said on Monday, whereas market analysts expected the country's GDP to decrease 2.0% in the Q1, following a 3.8% fall seen in the same period last year.
The largest US stock markets opened Monday's trading session flat, despite the unexpected drop in the New York Empire State Index reported earlier. At the open of the North American trading session, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 0.04% to 2,047.53 points, whereas the Dow Jones Index grew 0.05% to 17,543.81, and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.19% to 4,726.76 points.
Crude oil futures traded higher on Monday, triggered by possible production cuts in Venezuela and Nigeria. Thus, both West Texas Intermediate and Brent futures jumped 2.5%, trading at $47.37 and $49.01 per barrel respectively by 13:20 GMT on the London Stock Exchange.
New York's Federal Reserve published its business conditions index of New York state for May and it plunged to negative 9 points from positive 9.56 points in April. This was an unexpected turn of events, as analysts predicted it to be 6.5 points. Not only May's results erased increases of March and April, but also it is the biggest fall
Goldman issued a statement announcing that crude oil market went from nearing storage limits to a deficit situation much earlier than they expected and low oil prices are over. Main reasons for it were supply distruptions of around 3.75 million barrels per day. WTI traded up 2.3% at $47.30 and Brent was up 2.4% at $49.00 by 13:00 GMT.
The Kiwi surged 0.6% on Monday, hovering around the $0.68 mark, despite the slowdown in Chinese industrial production and retail sales. Volatility for the New Zealand Dollar can be expected on Wednesday, when the quarterly PPI data will be released. The Kiwi shows strong resistance $0.6820 and support at $0.6750.
According to the latest ComRes poll, the proportion of people who would like the UK to remain inside the European Union grew to 33% prior to the Brexit referendum on June 23. In the meantime, the number of people who would vote to leave the EU jumped 2% to 29%, whereas 38% of respondents remained undecided.
The Loonie traded higher against the Dollar as oil prices went up on Monday, while volatility remained low resulting from an empty economic calendar. The WTI traded 2% higher above the $47 level and Brent showed $49, a 2% raise as well. The Canadian Dollar traded at $0.7737 at 10:15 AM GMT against the Euro with support at $0.7776 and
On Wall Street, New York, mood before Monday's market opening was calm, because most economic calendars were almost empty and witout any major macroeconomic data realeases for Monday, as most important events were set for the rest of the week. Standard & Poor's 500 index remained unchanged pre-market at 2,043.50 points.
Norway's $870 billion oil fund and fourth largest stockholder of Volswagen shares, announced start of legal actions against VW in Germany's court. Main reason is to "safeguard fund's holding", because the diesel emissions scandal in US and subsequential stock value fall. In upcoming weeks a lawsuit will be started by fund's officials.
Silver displayed a bullish trend on Monday, topping the $17.25 mark to hover around $17.27, while further volatility is anticipated later next week, in the wake of US inflation, industrial production and Federal Reserve minutes data releases. The intraday high was at $17.31, whereas the lowest daily level lied at $17.01.
The Aussie gained value against the US Dollar on Monday, surging 0.5% to trade around $0.73, despite the Chinese industrial sector slowing down from 6.8% in March to 6.0% in April, and retail sales dropping from 10.5% to 10.1% in April. Further volatility is anticipated for the pair on Tuesday, amid the RBA minute release.
The Australian Dollar trimmed its previous losses that originated in the RBA rate cut as well as the weak inflationary environment. The Aussie gained 0.5% and traded at 1.0781 New Zealand dollars at 2 PM GMT, awaiting the release of the minutes from the RBA monetary policy meeting. The minutes will potentially provide insights into whether further easing should be
USD/JPY pair was bullish and on track to the 109 level on Monday. The Yen lost its appeal on rumours that Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan, might put-off a hike in sales tax. In the meantime, Yoshihide Suga, Chief Cabinet Secretary, announced that reports are false and tax increase will go ahead. According to Suga, only a Lehman Brothers
The Euro traded steadily against the Dollar, hovering around the $1.13 level, while the economic calendar showed no potential drivers for the currencies. The index for Empire State Manufacturing is the only release on the daily agenda, as the single important data announcement on the US this week is scheduled for Tuesday.
Gold surpassed its $1,279.20 resistance level and traded at $1,282.80 by 7:30 GMT on Monday. Surpass of this resistance indicates, that Gold could move towards $1,285 and afterwards $1,300 levels. This week markets will watch the Federal Reserve minutes, CPI and industrial production releases, as this data will influence the Buck and subsequently gold.
Markets in Europe started the session lower on Monday, resulting from the lack of economic indicator data releases, and kept the volumes low as the German market was closed for trading. The UK FTSE 100 index fell 0.5% and showed 6 110.23 points, along with the French CAC 40 which dropped 0.7% to trade at 4 290.71 points. The European
Most Asian stocks closed trading session on Monday with growth, as Japanese exporters utilized a falling yen and Chinese investors analysed newest economic data. In Japan Nikkei 225 index ended day's trading 0.3% higher at 16,466.40 points and Topix surged 0.1% to 1,321.65 points and in China Shanghai Composite added 0.5% to 2,840.61, Shenzhen Composite gained 1.2% to 1.805.07.
Crude oil prices increased on Monday, as markets waited for production output decrease in Venezuela and Nigeria. WTI futures jumped 1.4% to $46.84 per barrel and Brent surged 1.3% to $48.46 per barrel. In Nigeria oil companies stopped exports after acts of sabotage and outputs from Venezuela fell due to lack of investment in the industry.
The largest European stock markets closed Friday's trading session on a positive note, helped by better-than-expected data from the United States. The pan-European Euro Stoxx 600 Index added 0.5%, finishing at 334.68 points, whereas Germany's DAX Index posted a 0.9% gain, closing at 9,952.90, and France's CAC 40 Index grew 0.6%, finishing at 4,319.99 points.
The Australian Dollar traded lower against its US counterpart, touching its two-month low on Friday. The Aussie dropped 0.72%, trading at $0.7272 by 16:00 GMT on the New York Stock Exchange, whereas the US Dollar Index hit its two-week hight at 94.84 points, after US data releases showed better-than-expected results.
The US dollar hit its intra-day high against the Euro on Friday, helped by the better-than-expected US retail sales figures reported earlier and the Michigan Consumer Confidence Index, which improved from March's 89.0 to 95.8 points in May. Thus, the Euro traded lower against the Greenback at $1.1320 by 15:30 GMT on the New York Stock Exchange.
The University of Michigan's preliminary Consumer Confidence Index jumped to 95.8 in May, following April's 89.0 points and registering the highest result since last year. Until today, analysts expected the Index to improve to 90.0 points. Meanwhile, the survey's index of actual economic conditions increased from 108.6 to 106.7, whereas its consumer expectations' index grew from 77.6 to 87.5