- Watch out for market movements in a shorter trading week
- Positive conversations with China could help US Dollar
By Charlie Horsley
Watch out for market movements in a shorter trading week
The financial markets opened the week rather quietly. The US is apparently in talks with China on a trade agreement, but no one in the markets is cheering for it at this stage.
In the currency markets, commodity currencies are generally higher. The New Zealand Dollar is leading the way on a solid trade performance in February. Markets could turn even quieter in a week shortened by public holidays.
Positive conversations with China could help US Dollar
US Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, said in an interview on Sunday that the US is having “very productive conversations” with China, and he’s “cautiously hopeful we can reach an agreement” to avert the tariffs announced last week of 50-60 billion US Dollars. Mnuchin noted that both countries agreed on reducing the US trade deficit to China. This should alleviate some fears of a trade war among the commodity currencies and should help to alleviate the pressure on the US Dollar.
There is some economic data that could be market moving, including US Personal Income and Spending, Consumer Confidence and Canadian Gross Domestic Product (GDP). However, the economic calendar ahead is not too busy for this holiday shortened week. Traders will probably look through to next week for the more important data due to be released instead, such as Non-Farm Payrolls and the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Indices. Today, we also have UK British Bankers’ Association (BBA) Mortgage Approvals.
