On Friday, the US dollar strengthened against the basket of major currencies. The US dollar index (#DX) closed in the positive zone (+0.42%). Federal Reserve officials said about the need for further tightening of monetary policy after the meeting in September. Some FOMC representatives do not exclude 4 interest rate hikes during 2019. The escalation of the trade conflict between the US and China continues. Donald Trump stated the readiness to introduce new duties on the import of Chinese goods $200 billion worth. We also recommend monitoring up-to-date information on NAFTA negotiations.
Meanwhile, a rather weak statistics on the US economy was published on Friday. The core retail sales index fell to 0.3% in August, while experts expected 0.5%. The volume of retail sales increased by 0.1%, which is lower than market expectations of 0.4%.
The British pound weakened against contradictory news on Brexit. In general, the negotiations are being proceeded successfully, but the issue regarding the Irish border is unresolved.
The “black gold” prices show positive dynamics. At the moment, futures for the WTI crude oil are testing a mark of $69.00.
Market Indicators
On Friday, there was a variety of trends on the US stock market: #SPY (+0.02%), #DIA (+0.04%), #QQQ (-0.29%).
At the moment, the 10-year US government bonds yield is at the level of 2.95-2.96%
The news feed on 17.09.2018:
At 12:00 (GMT+3:00), the consumer price index will be published in the Eurozone.
