Global stocks are rising today as traders react to a series of corporate events done during the weekend. On Saturday, AstraZeneca announced that it had restarted human trials of its coronavirus vaccine after a participant fell ill. Elsewhere, media reports suggest that Softbank is set to sell its Arm Holdings to Nvidia. Also, according to the Financial Times, Softbank is considering going private. The deal will be worth more than $40 billion. Also, Tik Tok announced that Oracle will be its partner in the United States while Ronald Perelman sold a stake in his Scientific Games to Australia’s Caledonia.
The price of crude oil rose slightly as traders reacted to news that US oil rigs declined in the previous week. According to Baker Hughes, the number of rigs declined for the first time in four weeks as the price of oil started to fall. In total, oil and gas rigs declined by 2 to 254 in the week to September 11. The number of active rigs in the same time last year was about 654. At the same time, oil exploration companies have been slashing costs. According to Cowen, the firms it monitors are on track to cut production by almost 50% this year. Later today, OPEC will release its monthly report.
The economic calendar will have no major event today. In Japan, the statistics office will release the July capacity utilisation and industrial production data. Analysts expect the data to show that industrial production rose by 8% in that month. Later on, the Turkish statistics bureau will release the country’s retail sales and industrial production data. And finally, the Eurostat will release EU industrial production numbers. Analysts expect the data to show that the production rose by 4.0% in July and fell by 8.2% on a year-on-year basis.
EUR/USD
The EUR/USD pair is up slightly today trading at 1.1850, which is a few pips above Friday’s low of 1.1822. On the four-hour chart, the price is above the support shown in white. It is also slightly above the 50-day and 100-day exponential moving averages while the Relative Strength Index (RSI) is slightly below 70. The pair is likely to continue rising as bulls aim for the next resistance level at 1.1900.
GBP/USD
The GBP/USD pair is trading at 1.2825, which is a few pips above Friday’s low of 1.2754. This price is substantially lower than this month’s high of 1.3485. On the four-hour chart, the price is below the 50-day and 100-day exponential moving averages while the RSI has started to move below the oversold level of 30. The signal and main line of the MACD is at the lowest level in months. Therefore, with Brexit issues being unresolved, the pair is likely to continue falling as bears aim for moves below 1.2500.
XBR/USD
The XBR/USD pair is trading at 39.95, which is a few pips above Friday’s low of 39.25. On the daily chart, the price is slightly below the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level. It is also slightly below the 50-day and 100-day moving averages. Also, it is below the rising wedge pattern that was happening a few weeks ago while the RSI has moved below the oversold level. Therefore, the pair is likely to continue falling as bears attempt to move below 39.00.
