It’s a big week for markets, with attention focussed on the US this week.

The EUR/USD opened at $1.14071 and remained fairly steady early before climbing throughout mid-session trading to a high of $1.14550. However, the pair suffered some sharp declines from that point, tumbling to a low of $1.13711 late in the day. It was able to climb off those lows and is currently trading at $1.13962. The GBP/USD underwhelmed, handing back some of the gains made earlier in the week. The pair opened at $1.29985 and remained rather flat early in the day before climbing to a high of $1.30399. The slide began a couple of hours after hitting that peak, with the pound falling to lows of $1.29503 very late in the session. It has caught some people on the hop this morning as the pair opened half a cent higher and is currently trading at $1.30076.

The Dow looked set for another strong showing, but a sell-off in the back half of the session put that to bed. The index opened at 25,237.12 rallied throughout the first half of the day, peaking at 25,716.26. The rot set in after that with the Dow plummeting over the next few hours to hit a low of 25,075.44. It bounced off those lows and is currently trading at 25,219.60. The Dax was able to withstand the Dow sell-off to post a modest gain on Friday. The German index opened at 11,479.10, which was a low for the session, and surged as much as 170 points in the opening hour of trade. The gains continued, albeit at a much slower pace, until the Dax peaked at 11,688.70. The Dax then gave up most of those gains as it returned to near-session lows of 11,480.67 before closing at 11,554.20.

The week ahead shapes up as a critical one for markets as all attention is turned to the US. Wednesday sees the US mid-term elections being held which could hold big ramifications for the US economy and the Trump administration. A loss in the election by the republicans could see the extreme of impeachment proceedings commence against the President, but will more likely just mean that it will make it much harder for Trump to continue with his economic and political agenda. A win by the republicans will more or less confirm the President’s policies.

Friday sees the US Fed Reserve meet to decide interest rates for the nation. While it is not expected to raise rates, the language used by Fed Chair Jerome Powell could cause volatility as the outlook of the economy and economic policy is discussed. Data released today and the most significant this week include:

Today – UK Services PMI, US ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI & Loan Officer Survey, China Caixin Services PMI, European Sentix Investor Confidence, Spanish Unemployment Change, BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda & BoC Governor Stephen Poloz speak

Tuesday – RBA Cash Rate & Rate Statement

Wednesday – US Mid-Term Elections, NZ Unemployment Rate, Employment Change and Inflation Expectations

Thursday – NZ Official Cash Rate, RBNZ Monetary Policy Statement, Rate Statement and Press Conference

Friday – US Federal Funds Rate, FOMC Statement and PPI, RBA Monetary Policy Statement, UK GDP, Prelim GDP and Manufacturing Production

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