Following the Bank of Japan's policy meeting earlier today, markets are now focused on tonight's meeting of the US Federal Reserve, which is widely expected to leave its interest rate unchanged
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- Markets are primarily focused on tonight's meeting of the US Federal Reserve, which is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged for now, but to cut by a total of 0.75% later in 2025. Close attention will be paid to the Statement and Economic Projections for more clues about future rate cuts.
- The Bank of Japan held a policy meeting earlier today which produced no real surprises, with the interest rate left unchanged as expected. However, Governor Ueda did talk up the prospect of rate hikes in the near future and also stated that wage inflation is increasing as expected, which was a minor hawkish nod towards the next rate hike. The Yen was little changed following the meeting.
- Gold is very much in focus after it continued to rise over another day into record blue sky territory, trading at a new all-time high above $3,045 and threatening to reach even higher prices. Trend and momentum traders will be interested in being long here. Many analysts see Gold acting as a hedge right now against weak stock markets, and the precious metal might be getting a tailwind from the renewed prospect of all-out war in the Middle East, with the US bombing Yemen and Israel bombing Gaza.
- In the Forex market, since the Tokyo open today, the strongest major currency is the US Dollar while the weakest is the Euro. The EUR/USD currency pair is in focus, but that is because it has been reaching new multi-month highs and is close to a valid long-term bullish trend.
- Canadian CPI (inflation) data released yesterday showed inflation considerably higher than expected, making a month-on-month increate of 1.1% when an increase of only 0.6% was expected.
- Copper futures gained again yesterday to close at a new 9-month high price. There is plenty of demand for this industrial metal which is widely used in AI applications, so it could be a good trade or investment on the long side. Copper micro futures are relatively cheap, with a position size of about $10,000. For smaller amounts, retail investors can look for spot Copper CFDs or ETF (CPER) alternatives to participate.