The market continued to trade to the downside through Friday’s trading sessions as worries over the impact of President Trump’s proposed tariff’s on steel and aluminium continued to dominate moves. Once again the global equity markets felt the brunt of the move, although there was a late rally in the US markets towards the end of the day. The dollar was on the back foot for most of the day with the DXY finishing up once again under 90.00 and notably Usd/Jpy under 105.50.
This theme is set to continue to dominate the market today as international leaders continue to react and the market digests further comments from the Trump administration over the weekend – mostly backing the President’s tough stance. Traders in Asia will be watching the equity market opens very closely to see if further a downside is in the cards for today’s sessions.
It’s a busy week ahead with 4 central bank meetings and numerous tier 1 fundamental data releases due. First up today, the market's focus is on the Italian election result, with any potential upset possibly putting pressure on the euro. We have Building Approvals and Company Operating Profit numbers due in Australia before the Chinese Caixin Services PMI data.
Into the London session and the focus will once again move on the sterling with the UK Services PMI numbers due and further Brexit comments anticipated across the news wires. The New York session see’s the first tier 1 US data of the week being released in the form of the ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI data, although once again we expect the news wires to dominate short term volatility with the market focus firmly on the tariff situation.