Investing.com - Here’s a preview of the top 3 things that could rock markets tomorrow
It’s rate decision day
The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) got its two-day policy meeting underway on Tuesday amid expectations the policymaking FOMC will announce its decision to leave rates unchanged on Wednesday.
Investors are expected to carefully parse the policy statement for an insight into the central bank’s thinking on both the progress of the U.S. economy and the pace of inflation which continues to run well below the Fed’s 2% target.
Ahead of the FOMC decision on interest rates, better-than-expected consumer confidence and Chicago PMI data spur an uptick in the dollar against its rivals.
U.S. crude oil stockpiles to resume decline?
A fresh batch of inventory data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday is expected to show that U.S. crude stockpiles dropped last week.
Analysts forecast crude inventories fell by about 1.78m barrels in the week ended Oct. 27.
Crude oil prices have made a positive to the week on renewed optimism that Opec will agree to extend the deal to curb output beyond the March 2018 deadline.
Crude oil futures settled at $54.38, up 0.4%, on Tuesday.
UK manufacturing data in the spotlight
Ahead of the Bank of England’s rate decision this week, investors look ahead to manufacturing data due Wednesday for any signs of growth in UK manufacturing activity after an unexpected dip in September.
Analysts expect UK manufacturing activity to show a reading of 55.8, slightly cooler than September’s reading of 55.9.
Sterling has rallied against the dollar over recent trading sessions amid growing expectations that the Bank of England will hike interest rates for the first time in more than a decade on Thursday.
GBP/USD rose by 0.55% to $1.3281.