Land-FX analyst Ioan Mihalachi

• Head of European Market Strategy and Education Department
• Market research experience with over 7 years of comprehensive understanding of Financial Markets.
• Investment management using the combination of fundamental and technical market analysis.

18 July 2017

powered by Land-FX

Currency Markets the U.S. dollar sank to a 10-month low against a basket of major currencies on Tuesday, hobbled by uncertainty over the pace of the Federal Reserve’s policy tightening and worries that President Donald Trump will fail to deliver healthcare reforms. The dollar fell 0.4 percent to 112.30 yen, having lost steam after hitting a near four month high of 114.495 a week ago. The common currency rose 0.4 percent to $1.1528, hitting its highest levels since May last year.  The kiwi last stood at $0.7315, helped by the U.S. dollar’s broad decline. The Australian dollar gained 1.0 percent to a two-year high of $0.7875 as commodity prices such as iron ore and copper rose following Monday’s data showing robust economic growth in China.

Commodities Markets oil prices were stable on Tuesday, supported by strong consumption but weighed by ongoing high supplies from producer club OPEC and also the United States. Brent crude futures were at $48.55 per barrel, up 0.3 percent, from their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were at $46.12 per barrel, up 0.2 percent. Spot gold rose 0.3 percent to $1,237.05 per ounce after touching $1,238.27, the highest since July 3, earlier in the session. In other precious metals, silver rose 0.7 percent to $16.18 per ounce. Platinum fell 0.2 percent to $919.75 per ounce. Palladium was up 0.2 percent to $866.50 per ounce.

US Equity Markets  stocks closed little changed in low volume on Monday as gains in utilities and consumer stocks offset declines in healthcare, with earnings news filtering out winners and losers across the board. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.04 percent, to 21,629.72, the S&P 500 lost 0.01 percent, to 2,459.14 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.03 percent, to 6,314.43. BlackRock shares   fell 3.1 percent after the world’s biggest asset manager’s quarterly profit came in below expectations. After the closing bell, Netflix shares jumped 8.5 percent following better than expected subscriber growth. Procter & Gamble rose 0.5 percent as investor Nelson Peltz actively seeks a seat on P&G’s board.

Bond Markets  U.S. Treasury yields drifted lower on Monday, trading in narrow ranges, after falling the previous session on soft U.S. inflation and retail sales data ahead of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy meeting next week.  In late trading, U.S. 10-year yields fell to 2.310 percent , from 2.319 percent late on Friday. U.S. 30-year bonds were yielding 2.896 percent, down from 2.910 percent on Friday. U.S. two-year yields were up slightly at 1.359 percent, from Friday’s 1.355 percent.

Asian Equity Markets Japan’s Nikkei index fell to a more than one-week low on Tuesday morning after cyclical stocks lost ground as a stronger yen hit sentiment, while Toshiba Corp rallied after news a U.S. hedge fund increased its stake in the tech company. The Nikkei fell 0.7 percent to 19,988.69 in midmorning trade. The broader Topix fell 0.6 percent to 1,616.34 and the JPX-Nikkei Index 400 fell 0.6 percent to 14,382.28. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan was down 0.1 percent, a day after scaling its loftiest levels since April 2015. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was down 0.11 percent at mid-morning to 26,441.