Australia’s central bank meets today to decide its monetary policy settings for the country.

It was a quiet night for markets as far as announcements go, mainly due to the US markets being closed for Labor Day. This holiday has come at a time when tensions with North Korea escalate further amid reports that the rogue state are prepared to launch another missile. The public holiday has removed a lot of the initial volatility that would have been felt if the markets were open and the North Korean missile test news had broken. It is a little hard to say which way the markets will swing once it does open again. At the time of open, markets may have already absorbed all of the information and ‘shock’ to the news and we may not see much of a shift at all.

Gold rallied overnight to hit highs of $1,345.50, before retreating back to the $1,338.00 level. The situation in North Korea would have influenced the price in gold as the precious metal is a safe-haven asset. Traders flock to safe-haven assets when there is sudden global uncertainty, such as military conflict.

European stock indexes ended the trading session lower across the board as military tensions weighed on markets. Europe finished around 0.5% lower on average. The EUR/USD had a little movement floating between the high $1.18 and low $1.19 marks.

As for the day ahead, the Reserve Bank of Australia meets today to decide interest rate settings for the economy. There has not been much talk of changing interest rates as the economy appears to be moving at an acceptable rate as far as the RBA is concerned. The importance in these meetings now comes down to what is said in the meeting and the language that is used. This can help markets gauge where the economy sits in the eyes of policymakers. Australia is also releasing Current Account data. RBA Gov, Philip Lowe, is also due to speak later tonight.

The other announcements around the world include:

China – Caixin Services PMI

Europe – European Revised GDP & Retail Sales, European, German & French Final Services PMIs, Italian & Spanish Services PMIs, Swiss GDP & CPI

UK – Services PMI

US – Factory Orders, IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism, Fed Reserve Members, Lael Brainard, Neel Kashkari & Robert Kaplan are all due to speak later today and in the early hours of tomorrow morning.