US FUTURES CLOSED “-VE” AS THE FED INTEREST RATE DECISION IS DUE IN THIS SESSION

Asia-Pacific stocks were mixed on Wednesday morning. The Shanghai Composite is up 0.07% at 3,279.64. Overall, the Singapore MSCI is up 0.05% at 293.65. Over in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index is down 1.06% at 20,665. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 is up 0.40% at 27,760.00, while the Topix index is up 0.18% at 1947.50. South Korea’s Kospi is up 0.11% at 2,415.53. Australia S&P/ASX 200 up 0.23% at 6823.20.

Top News of the Day:

U.S. stock futures were trading higher during Tuesday’s evening deals, following a negative close for major benchmark averages as market participants monitor earnings from mega-cap technology companies as well as the Federal Reserve’s latest interest rate decision due later in the session.

By 7:15pm ET (11:15pm GMT) Dow Jones Futures were up 0.2%, S&P 500 Futures lifted 0.6%, and Nasdaq 100 Futures gained 1.2%.

Market Summary as per 26/07/2022:

European equities Tuesday closing. The DAX futures contract in Germany traded down 0.86% at 13,096.93, CAC 40 futures down 0.42% at 6211.46 and the UK 100 futures contract in the U.K. flat at 7,306.29.

In the U.S. on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0.71% at 31761.55. The S&P 500 down 1.15% at 3921.04 and the Nasdaq 100 down 1.96% at 12086.90, NYSE closes down 0.71% at 14793.55.

Top Market News Today:

In the Forex market, GBPUSD up 0.18% at 1.2047. The USDJPY up 0.05% at 136.928. The USDCHF down 0.09% at 0.9616. EURUSD up 0.21% at 1.0136, EUR/GBP up 0.09% at 0.8414. The USD/CNY down 0.03% at 6.7620 at the time of writing.

In the Commodity market U.S. Gold futures up 0.15% at $1,719.07. Elsewhere, Silver futures up 0.06% at $18.621 per ounce, Platinum down 0.40% at $870.50 per ounce, and Palladium down 0.50% at $2002.00.

Crude Oil up on Wednesday; Brent Crude Oil up 0.10% at $104.71 per barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (CLc1) up 0.09% at $94.79.

In the Cryptocurrency Markets, Bitcoin at 21190.00 up 1.31%, Ethereum up 0.03% at 1450.30, Litecoin at 53.44 down 0.58%, at the time of writing.

Top Market Segment to Watch Out Today:

TOYOTA: Toyota Motor (NYSE:TM) Corp has suspended night shift operations at one production line of its Takaoka factory in central Japan because of a COVID-19 outbreak, the company said on Wednesday.

The cancellation came after eight plant workers caught the virus, it said. Toyota suspended night shift production of the line on Tuesday.

Economic News:

US: With the Federal Reserve expected to hike its key interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point on Wednesday to battle high inflation, focus will shift to how deeply signs of an economic slowdown have registered with its policymakers.

The anticipated increase in the target federal funds rate, the Fed’s key tool in trying to lower inflation from a four-decade high, will bring the U.S. central bank to a mile marker of sorts as it reaches a level of around 2.4% that is estimated to no longer encourage economic activity.

That will represent one of the fastest-ever gear changes in U.S. monetary policy – just over four months ago the policy rate was near zero and the Fed was buying billions of dollars of bonds each month to help the economy recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

But while there has been little progress registered yet in the inflation fight, signs of economic stress are accumulating – and raising the stakes for Fed officials as they weigh just how much tighter monetary policy needs to be to slow price increases against the risk that going too far could trigger a recession.

Eurozone: The European Central Bank (ECB) could potentially issue a negative opinion toward a recently proposed tax on banks in Spain though details were still missing, Bank of Spain Governor Pablo Hernandez de Cos said on Tuesday.

The Spanish government announced the creation of the tax earlier this month, saying the temporary tax on banks should bring in 3 billion euros in 2023-2024 that will be earmarked to help Spaniards cope with soaring inflation.

The proposal is expected to be introduced in parliament this week.

“In general in the case of other countries it is not easy to establish a tax that does not end up affecting credit, interest rates or the resilience of banks, and the opinion of the ECB ends up being negative,” De Cos told a financial event when asked about the tax in Spain.

“We do not know the details. Once we know them the ECB will have to issue an opinion,” said de Cos, who is also a member of the ECB’s governing council.

Top Economic Releases Today:

1. U.S. Core Durable Goods Orders (MoM) (Jun) today at 8:30 this time estimated 0.2%, previously which was 0.7%. 
2. RUSSIA Unemployment Rate (Jun) today at 12:00 this time estimated 4.2%, previously which was 3.9%.
3. AUSTRALIA Retail Sales (MoM) (Jun) today at 21:30 this time estimated 0.5%, previously which was 0.9%.
4. U.S. Crude Oil Inventories today at 10:30 this time estimated -1.037M, previously which was -0.446M.
5. GERMANY 10-Year Bund Auction today previously which was 1.22%.

TECHNICAL SUMMARY

GBPUSD

TRADE SUGGESTION- BUY AT 1.2054, TAKE PROFIT AT 1.2089 AND STOP LOSS AT 1.2030

EURUSD

TRADE SUGGESTION- SELL AT 1.0142, TAKE PROFIT AT 1.0118 AND STOP LOSS AT 1.0172

USDJPY

TRADE SUGGESTION- BUY AT 137.020, TAKE PROFIT AT 137.884 AND STOP LOSS AT 136.303

USDCHF

TRADE SUGGESTION- SELL AT 0.9629, TAKE PROFIT AT 0.9605 AND STOP LOSS AT 0.9646

CAC 40

TRADE SUGGESTION- BUY AT 6224.40 TAKE PROFIT AT 6257.30 AND STOP LOSS AT 6147.20

WTI CRUDE OIL

TRADE SUGGESTION- SELL AT 96.11 TAKE PROFIT AT 94.48 AND STOP LOSS AT 97.86

GOLD

TRADE SUGGESTION- SELL AT 1720.72, TAKE PROFIT AT 1705.07 AND STOP AT 1737.92

LITECOIN

TRADE SUGGESTION- SELL AT 52.5200 TAKE PROFIT AT 50.8144 AND STOP AT 54.6547