Another busy day for markets, with a slew of data scheduled for publication.

The USD weakened overnight, thanks to the rate cut by the US Fed Reserve. The EURUSD opened at $1.11112 and traded in a tight range for most of the day, where it showed some signs of life around the time of the Fed meeting. The meeting saw the euro tumble to lows of $1.10793 before rallying off those lows to peak at $1.11512 in the last hour of the trading day. It is slightly higher at the moment, currently trading at $1.11530. The GBPUSD made some gains overnight, briefly entering $1.29 territory. The pair opened at $1.28686 and climbed to near-session highs of $1.29050 mid-session. It came off that near-high as it fell to lows of $1.28443 as the Fed wrapped up its meeting. It quickly bounced off those lows as the pound hit highs of $1.29070 late in the day. It is not far off those highs, currently trading at $1.28997.

The Dow rallied late in an otherwise uninspiring session. The index opened at 27,114.51 and was flat for majority of the day, before dropping to lows of 27,005.43 late in the day. The cut in interest rates saw the Dow surge to highs of 27,288.93 in the last hour of the day. It has come off those highs and is now trading at 27,225.41. The Dax looked set for a negative session, until a rallying Dow helped drag the Dax into positive territory. The German index began the day at 12,934.07 and started to slide from the open, before steadying for a large part of the day. The Dax fell to lows of 12,832.03 but rebounded and rallied to a high of 12,951.85, before closing at 12,941.09.

The day ahead sees the release of a stack of data, with China coming into focus. They will be publishing Manufacturing PMI later this morning. This figure is in and is expected to remain in contractionary territory. The PMI figure is forecast to come in at 49.9, up slightly from the 49.8 recorded at last reading.

Other data published today includes:

NZ – ANZ Business Confidence

Canada – GDP, RMPI, IPPI

UK – GfK Consumer Confidence

China – Non-Manufacturing PMI

Australia – Building Approvals, Import Prices, Private Sector Credit, AIG Manufacturing Index

Japan – BoJ Policy Rate, Monetary Policy Statement, Outlook Report and Press Conference, Consumer Confidence, Housing Starts

US – Challenger Job Cuts, Core PCE Price Index, Employment Cost Index, Personal Income & Spending, Unemployment Claims, Chicago PMI, Natural Gas Storage

Europe – German Retail Sales, French & Italian Prelim CPIs, European CPI & Core CPI Flash Estimates, European & Spanish Flash GDPs, Italian Prelim GDP, European Unemployment Rate, Italian Monthly Unemployment Rate, SNB Chairman Thomas Jordan speaks

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