Yesterday, the US dollar continued to decline against the basket of major currencies due to the political instability in the US. Legal proceedings against Donald Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, and Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, are in the focus of attention. In addition, the US intends to impose a number of sanctions against Russia because of the “malicious” actions of the country. The US dollar index (#DX) updated a two-week low and closed in the negative zone (-0.16%). Today, during the Asian trading session, the US currency has recovered some of the losses.
Meanwhile, yesterday the FOMC minutes were published, according to which the Fed leaders positively assessed the state of the American economy and intended to raise the interest rate in the future. However, the meeting participants also expressed concerns about the US trade conflicts with key global partners. At the moment, more than 90% of financial market participants believe that the Fed will raise the interest rate at a meeting in September.
The “black gold” prices continued to increase after the publication of the report on crude oil inventories in the US. At the moment, futures for the WTI crude oil are testing a mark of $67.80 per barrel.
Market Indicators
Yesterday, there was a variety of trends in the US stock market: #SPY (-0.06%), #DIA (-0.34%), #QQQ (+0.39%).
At the moment, the 10-year US government bonds yield is at the level of 2.81%-2.82%.
The news feed on 2018.08.23:
Data on economic activity in Germany and the Eurozone at 10:30 (GMT+3:00) and 11:00 (GMT+3:00);
Publication of the ECB account of monetary policy meeting at 14:30 (GMT+3:00);
New home sales in the US at 17:00 (GMT+3:00).
