US Market Wrap

US markets continued doing what we’ve become accustomed to lately and closed the session in the green.

The upside in stocks spilt over into the majors with more buying across the board, while it was the NZD/USD that really performed strongly.

We saw US durable goods orders jumped higher and the buying was helped by the likes of Salesforce which has rallied after being moved into the DOW.

The Data Agenda

We’ve got a very busy day ahead of us with both data and Jackson Hole primed to mix things up for traders.

The real key for the session will be Jerome Powell who is speaking at the virtual Jackson Hole summit today. All the focus is on what he intends to say about US monetary policy and how the inflation target could be changed.

Previously the Fed focused on keeping inflation at 2% and would adjust rates accordingly. Now the suggestion is they will change that to an average, so that means that inflation can creep higher before rates would rise. 

While that might be bearish for the USD on the surface, it also raises other questions such as just how effective the Keynesian approach to monetary policy has really been, given that we’ve had lagging inflation for decades now.

Outside of that, Thursday marks the usual Jobless Claims data from the US while we also get a look at the latest GDP numbers.

Forex Signal Update

The FX Leaders Team hit 2 winners from 4 trades yesterday, with a number of positions still running. See all the open positions and new signals on the forex signals page.

USD/CAD – Active Signal 

The USD/CAD trade is starting to look really good and if these lows get taken out, expect a big push lower.

EUR/JPY – Active Signal 

The EUR/JPY is pushing back towards its most recent highs and is overall pretty strong. We’re long here looking for another leg higher.

Cryptocurrency Update

The crypto space is looking very similar across the board at the moment, with basically all the major coins making a similar chart pattern, composed of a series of lower highs.

This is bearish and until that downtrend breaks, we will remain with that bias especially for BTC.