Market Brief Series / EP. 411 / 25 th Sep. 2018

Overall there is strength in the GBP, USD and EUR. Weakness in the NZD, CHF and JPY.

Oil markets have been driven up by looming U.S. sanctions against Iran and an unwillingness or inability by Middle East dominated producer cartel OPEC and Russia to raise output.

USD was largely steady against its major peers on Tuesday as investors looked to policy clues from the U.S. Federal Reserve, which is widely expected to hike rates this week, as financial markets fret over a heated Sino-U.S. trade dispute.

USD/JPY was in the hands of the bulls overnight with the yen slipping back from highs of 112.43 in early NY trade with US stocks slipping back from recent highs.

AUD/USD is seeing further downside in Tuesday's early sessions, facing back down below 0.7250 after peaking in the overnight session at 0.7263.

EUR/USD surged to a day-high of 1.18150, after ECB President Mario Draghi said in the European Parliament that a "vigorous pick-up in underlying inflation" is expected. The pair remains on the downside after retreating from a high of 1.1815 seen overnight. Unless the pair returns to the key resistance at 1.1775 on the upside, the intraday outlook is still bearish, and a further pull-back to 1.1680 is likely. Alternatively, above 1.1775, expect a bounce toward 1.1795.

On the data slate there’s German Wholesale Price Index; Euro-Zone ECB’s Praet Speech; UK MPC Member Vlieghe Speech; Euro-Zone ECB’s Coeure Speech; US Redbook Index; US Home Price Indices; US Housing Price Index; US Richmond fed Manufacturing Index; US 4-Week Bill Auction; US 5-Year Note Auction and US Weekly Crude oil Stock.