Mario Draghi, Fed Reserve Members set to speak

October 12, 2017

Plenty of data set for release throughout the day and in the early hours of tomorrow morning, with central bank figures coming into focus.

The USD weakened overnight as the Fed Reserve Meeting Minutes were released. The minutes show there is some concern over inflation targets within the economy, which has seen the dollar dip. It is important to bear in mind that the Fed meeting was held before last week’s strong Average Hourly Earnings (wage inflation) data was published. Wage inflation is important to overall inflation, so if the wage inflation continues its strong growth, this will likely feed into overall inflation, therefore negating the Fed Reserve’s concerns. The EUR/USD pairing is currently trading in the mid-to-high $1.18 region after the Fed minutes, where it is presently at $1.1863. The weakening USD has also affected the GBP/USD pairing, with it currently trading at $1.3230.

US stocks continued its march upwards, with all closing at record highs once again. The NASDAQ was the session’s best performer, up 16.30 points (+0.25%) to close at 6,603.55. The Dow and S&P 500 both ended the session up 0.18%, closing at 22,872.89 (+42.21 points) and 2,555.24 (+4.60 points) respectively. European stocks were mixed yet again, the FTSE shaving 4.46 pints (-0.06%) to 7,533.81, while the DAX added 21.43 points (+0.17%) to close at 12,970.68.

Turning to events today and the markets will be mainly fixated on speeches by ECB President Mario Draghi, as well as speeches by Fed Reserve Members Lael Brainard and Jerome Powell. Mario Draghi’s speech will be important to listen to as he will likely address the unrest in Spain, which sees Catalonia wanting to secede from the rest of the country. The Fed speeches will be important as well as they will likely address inflation concerns, while they may also give hints on monetary policy decisions in the future. Other announcements today include:

Japan – Bank Lending, PPI, Tertiary Industry Activity

UK – BoE Credit Conditions Survey

Australia – MI Inflation Expectations, Home Loans

Canada – NHPI

Europe – French Final CPI, European Industrial Production

US – PPI, Unemployment Claims, Natural Gas Storage, Crude Oil Inventories, Federal Budget Balance