A relatively quiet Wednesday for markets sees the speech by Donald Trump come into focus.

The USD strengthened overnight, sending paired currencies down. The EURUSD opened at $1.14336 and bumped up to an early high of $1.14400. The pair began its slide shortly afterwards, eventually hitting a low of $1.13400. It is struggling to bounce back and is currently trading at $1.14047. The GBPUSD opened at $1.30338 and was flat in early trading, lifting to a high of $1.30507. Mid-session trading saw the rot set in as the pound crashed to a low of $1.29232. It is not far off that low, currently trading at $1.29462.

Indices were off to the races, with the Dow impressive once again. The index opened at 25,216.29 and dipped to an early low of 25,187.31. It remained flat throughout early trading before taking off mid-session. The Dow rallied to a high of 25,418.71 late in the day before closing at 25,369.11. The Dax busted out of its shackles and rallied for most of the session, long before the Dow rally started. The German index opened at 11,192.38 and hit an early low of 11,172.23. The Dax turned it around and surged until it peaked at 11,386.73, before closing at 11,361.23.

The day ahead will be dominated by one thing – Donald Trump’s speech. The State of the Union speech is used to outline the policy agenda for the year ahead. This speech had been delayed due to the government shutdown. This speech will likely include more calls for a border wall and its funding. It is not expected to contain any big surprises but another government shutdown or a national emergency may be mentioned.

Data released today includes:

Europe – German Factory Orders

Australia – RBA Governor Philip Lowe speaks, AIG Construction Index

Canada – Building Permits, BoC Governing Council Member Timothy Lance speaks

US – Prelim Non-Farm Productivity, Prelim Unit Labour Costs, Trade Balance, Crude Oil Inventories

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