A much busier day today as far as volume of data goes, while tensions between two old foes seems to have cooled for now.

The EURUSD flirted with $1.11 overnight as the USD continues to strengthen. The pair opened the session at $1.11512 and edged up to a high of $1.11678 early in the day. It was basically all downhill from there as the euro steadily decline throughout the day, hitting lows of $1.11010 late in the day. It is not far from those lows, currently trading at $1.11085. The GBPUSD looked strong early before pulling back and giving up those earlier gains. The pair began the day at $1.31179 and remained flat early before lifting to a high of $1.31691 mid-session. Those gains were not held onto for very long as the pound declined late in the day, hitting lows of $1.30795. It has come off those lows and is now trading at $1.30987.

The Dow returned to life overnight, shaking off the military action conducted by Iran yesterday. The index started the day at 28,534.35 and fell sharply to lows of 28,119.48 shortly afterwards as news broke that Iran had attacked two military bases which housed US troops. Markets eased somewhat after Donald Trump sent out a message about the incident that was measured and did not seek to inflame the situation. The Dow rallied throughout the rest of the day, with the gains accelerating when the President confirmed there will be no military retaliation. The Dow peaked at 28,867.30 before closing at 28,801.50. The Dax opened considerably lower, thanks to the falling Dow, but managed to post some strong gains overnight. The German index opened at 13,001.83 (almost 200 points lower than the previous day’s close) and dipped further to a low of 12,971.70 during the opening hour of trade. The Dax surged off those lows, hitting highs of 13,408.18 in the final hour of the day before closing at 13,367.78.

Attention once again turns local as markets await the release of Trade Balance figures from Australia. It is expected to show a trade surplus of $4.1 billion, down from the $4.5 billion recorded the previous month.

Other data published today includes:

China – CPI, PPI

NZ – ANZ Commodity Prices

UK – BRC Retail Sales Monitor, BoE Governor Mark Carney speaks

Canada – Housing Starts, Building Permits, BoC Governor Stephen Poloz speaks

US – Unemployment Claims, Natural Gas Storage, FOMC Members Richard Clarida, Neel Kashkari and Johns Williams speak

Europe – German Trade Balance and Industrial Production, Swiss Retail Sales and Foreign Currency Reserves, Italian Monthly Unemployment Rate, European Unemployment Rate, German Buba President Jens Weidmann speaks

Disclaimer: The information in this website is of a general nature only and the advice has been prepared without taking account of your objectives, financial situation or needs. Accordingly, before acting on the advice, you should consider the appropriateness of the advice having regard to your objectives, financial situation and needs. We recommend you seek independent advice if necessary.