Central banks:
- Fed preview: what's priced in and what could surprise the market?
- The ADP data released yesterday could hurt Fed's conviction for a December cut
- Fed poised to cut rates again today but will there be hints about a move in December?
- BoC preview: a rate cut is expected but the focus will centre on forward guidance
US-China headlines:
- Trump: I think it will be a great deal for both the US and China
- Trump says meeting with Xi tomorrow will be around three to four hours
- China shows a small gesture of goodwill ahead of Trump-Xi meeting
- China says Trump-Xi meeting to inject new momentum in development of US-China relations
Market headlines:
- Gold creeps back up above $4,000 as dip buyers move quick to make themselves heard
- Spain Q3 preliminary GDP +0.6% vs +0.6% q/q expected
- UK September mortgage approvals 65.94k vs 64.00k expected
- Switzerland October UBS investor sentiment -7.7 vs -46.4 prior
- US MBA mortgage applications w.e. 24 October +7.1% vs -0.3% prior
Market moves:
- AUD leads, CHF lags on the day
- European equities mixed; S&P 500 futures up 0.3%
- US 10-year yields up 1 bps to 3.993%
- Gold up 1.7% to $4,018.15
- WTI crude oil up 0.4% to $60.40
- Bitcoin up 0.3% to $113,199
Markets continue to gear towards the major events this week, with the first one up later today in the form of the FOMC meeting. Just before that though, there will be the Bank of Canada announcing their own policy decision with a 25 bps rate cut expected. As for the Fed, they are also expected to do the same in cutting rates by 25 bps but all eyes will be on Fed chair Powell's press conference in dictating the market mood for the second half of this week.
In the lead up to that, the dollar is keeping steadier across the board with light gains on the day. EUR/USD is down 0.1% to 1.1640 with USD/JPY keeping up by 0.1% to 152.20 levels currently. GBP/USD is feeling heavy as it runs down to test 1.3200, down 0.4% on the day to around 1.3215 at the moment.
Amid the optimism ahead of Trump's meeting with Xi Jinping tomorrow, the aussie is the one benefiting the most so far this week with AUD/USD up another 0.2% to near 0.6600 on the day.
In the equities space, European stocks remain more tepid with month-end approaching while US futures are pointing higher again after Nvidia and tech shares carried the advance yesterday. So far, US-China optimism continues to fuel gains but the Fed will be the next key risk event to deal with later.
Elsewhere, gold is seen making headway as dip buyers stepped in strongly near $3,900 overnight to send prices back above $4,000 today. There's still a tug of war going on but price action certainly shows that dip buyers are not going to be so easily deterred despite the pullback from last week.
