Plenty of information about today in what shapes up to be a big one for markets.

The FOMC meeting this morning pushed USD-paired currencies sharply lower for a brief period as the big market players traded the news. The EUR/USD opened at $1.17432 and remained rather flat in early trading. The pair climbed right up until the Fed meeting was wrapped up. It reached $1.17918 shortly before the Fed’s announcement. The pair then fell off a cliff as it nose-dived to session lows of $1.17245 in the hour after the announcement. It quickly rocketed back up, hitting highs of $1.18006 during the following hour. It is not far off those highs, currently trading at $1.17996. The GBP/USD opened at $1.33717 and weakened through much of early trading. It fell to a low of $1.33072 before bouncing back and rallying to highs of $1.33889 a few hours later. The pair also experienced a sharp decline after the FOMC meeting, plummeting to $1.33170 before also quickly recovering. It is currently trading at $1.33812.

The Dow was punished at the end of the Fed meeting as the reality hit that borrowing money is now going to be more expensive and it won’t be as freely available. The Dow opened 25,332.00 and peaked at 25,366.00 a short time later. It ebbed and flowed for several hours until the Fed meeting wrapped up, at which point it copped a beating. It fell to lows of 25,187.95 in late trading. It opened this morning even lower, at 25,180.89 but has managed to claw back some of those losses, currently trading at 25,208.50. The Dax opened at 12,844.60 and fell to lows of 12,776.60 quite early. It quickly recovered however and reached highs 12,905.60 a few hours later. It was not able to hold onto those highs and closed at 12,860.30.

The day ahead looms as a big one for markets as there is plenty of significant data set for release. The most crucial today is the European Main Refinancing Rate (interest rate meeting), UK Retail Sales and also the US Retail & Core Retail Sales. These events/data announcements tend to cause market volatility, so it will be prudent for traders to keep an eye on these announcements as they occur. Other data set for release today includes:

Australia – Employment Change, Unemployment Rate, MI Inflation Expectations

China – Industrial Production, Fixed Asset Investment, Retail Sales

Canada – NHPI

NZ – Business NZ Manufacturing Index

Japan – Revised Industrial Production

Europe – German & French Final CPI, ECB Press Conference

US – Unemployment Claims, Import Prices, Business Inventories, Natural Gas Storage

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