RBA Leaves Rates on Hold at 1.50%, Global Stocks Stable as Trade War and Geopolitics Concerns Ease

Yesterday’s session was quite after a pickup in volatility last week and there has been little in the way of movement overnight. This is despite some negative headlines that possibly sapped some of the market strength over the last 24 hours. Crude Oil has continued to fall with WTI reaching $64.50 as supply increases and reserves rise but gains on Tuesday morning to trade at $65.22. The decline has been dramatic with prices at a high of $72.80 only two weeks ago. Iran has said that they will increase capacity to produce uranium gas after the US pulled out of the Iran deal last month.

Global stocks steady on Tuesday morning as investors shrug off trade wars concerns and geopolitical uncertainty. Markets are in a positive mood since the beginning of the week after US job data released on Friday and the coalition formed in Italy.

The RBA has left rates on hold at their meeting saying inflation is likely to remain low for some time and household consumption remains a source of uncertainty. AUDUSD rallied from 0.75800 yesterday to 0.76660 but fell back to 0.7641 at the time of writing.

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UK Construction PMI (May) was out at 52.5 against an expected headline number of 52.0 from a prior number of 52.5. The recovery from the low created in April at 47.0 stalled and matched the previous read last month. The construction industry is seen as being under a degree of pressure since the high levels of 2014 at 64.6 showing contraction in the index but has recovered somewhat. GBPUSD moved higher after this data release from 1.33560 to 1.33982.

Eurozone Producer Price Index (YoY) (Apr) was 2.0% against an expected 2.4% from a previous 2.1%. Producer Price Index (MoM) (Apr) was 0.0% against an expected 0.4% from a previous 0.1%. The recovery in the Euro area is weaker but growing despite some sluggish economic data. PPI data is in danger of slipping under 0.0% signaling falling prices. EURUSD moved higher from 1.17075 to 1.17441 following this data release.

US Factory Orders (MoM) (Apr) were -0.8% against an expected -0.3% from 1.6% previously which was revised up to 1.7%. The decrease in orders exceeded expectations but remains in the recent range of this data point over the last three years has been between +3% and -3.5%. However, the drop shows a decrease in demand for US produced goods. EURUSD moved higher initially from 1.17157 to 1.17250 but then sold off to 1.16770 in the time after this data release.

• EURUSD is down -0.10% overnight, trading around 1.16852.
• USDJPY is up 0.07% in the early session, trading at around 109.891
• GBPUSD is down 0.02% this morning trading around 1.33119.
• Gold is down –0.08% in early morning trading at around $1,290.91
• WTI is up 0.11% this morning, trading around $64.98

This article was written by FxPro