Market Snapshot – Reaction to FOMC Dominates Markets

Difficult Day for the Dollar With a Dovish Fed

The markets today have all been about the FOMC minutes that were released yesterday. The traders and investors were expecting the Fed to be bullish on the economy and give a clear signal that they would be hiking rates in June but what they got was a mixup of all kinds of indications with the key takeaways being that the June hike is still on the table but still very dependent on the incoming data due to a not so good Q1 data. This has caused the stocks to rally a bit over the last 24 hours but with things still being far away from being clear, it is better to be on the sidelines.

OPEC in Focus as Markets Await

The OPEC is clearly in focus for today as the market waits from updates from the oil producers. The oil prices have been moving up steadily since the beginning of the week on the back of reports that the producers would announce a much larger cut in the production and extend the deal by a much longer term but neither of these is yet clear. This is why the markets await the OPEC for today for some clear direction which should then determine the short term direction for oil prices.

Gold Prices Continue to be Choppy

Gold prices continue to get a lift whenever there is a weakening in the dollar and the same has been the case over the last 24 hours as the prices bounced off the support in the 1242 region and moved towards the 1260 region where it has been met with a lot of selling. A lot of choppy trading is expected in this area as the bulls and the bears fight it out with the bulls trying to push it through this level so that they can then target the 1295 level.