Investing.com - Here’s a preview of the top 3 things that could rock markets tomorrow
All eyes on Fed minutes
The Federal Reserve is slated to release the minutes of its July meeting, at which fed members voted to leave interest rates unchanged, citing concerns over the slowdown in inflation.
The central bank, however, said it could begin tapering its $4.5tn balance sheet “relatively soon”.
Investors will parse the minutes for clues on when Fed might start to unwind its balance sheet as well as any update concerning the labor market and inflation.
Ahead of the release, New York Fed chief Bill Dudley said on Monday, he would favour a third rate hike this year, even as Wall Street expectations for such a move have dipped below 50%.
The dollar may come under pressure against its rivals should the minutes reveal that fed members appeared more dovish on monetary policy than was initially believed.
Eurozone growth under the microscope
A day after Germany released weaker-than-expected gross domestic product (gdp) data, investors brace for Eurozone second-quarter preliminary gdp data expected to remain unchanged at 0.6%.
Coming into August, the euro had notched a monthly gained of about 3.5% against the dollar, on the back of political uncertainty in Washington, as The Senate healthcare bill supported by Trump faltered late July.
Gains in the single currency, however, have been limited as investors flocked to safe haven currencies like yen in the wake of geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and North Korea.
U.S. oil crude stockpiles to show seventh-straight weekly decline?
A fresh batch of inventory data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday is expected to show that U.S. crude stockpiles fell for a seventh-straight week.
Analysts forecast crude inventories fell by about 3m barrels in the week ended Aug 11.
Crude futures have started the week on the back foot, falling to a three-week low, as weaker oil demand in China pegged back expectations that excess crude supplies will taper during the second half of the year.
Crude oil settled $0.04 lower at $47.55 on Tuesday.