Key Points:
USD stronger across the board
US stocks close higher for 2nd consecutive session
US presidential debates start Tuesday 29th September
US indices closed higher on Friday for the second consecutive day in a relatively calm session with no explosive triggers for volatility as US yields fell but the USD rose across the board and Gold settled at 1861. The Asian session saw some early USD weakness but the recent strength reappeared again during the US session with DXY back up to 94.50. AUD dipped to 0.7006 after touching as high as 0.7087 during the Asian session but managed a close around 0.7030, likewise EUR was capped at 1.1685 key resistance and fell back to 1.1617. Cable continues to find support on any dip under 1.2700 and closed the week out stronger on the crosses than a week earlier. EU/UK Brexit talks resume today with some optimism that an 11th hour agreement will be struck. GBP spiked higher on the open this am to 1.2775 but has fallen back a little since after BoE’s Tenreyo’s comments about the benefits of negative rates took a bite out of the optimism. Further verbal intervention comments out earlier today from ECB’s Visco and Cos both mentioning the strength of the EUR as a weight dampening inflation and growth prospects. EUR/USD is unchanged from its close Friday. The weekends highlights were that Trump has formerly announced Amy Coney Barrett as his nomination to the Supreme Court ahead of the election causing uproar amongst the Democrats and an outburst of opinion on social media. Also a NY Times article claims to have tax returns for Trump going back 15 years showing that he paid minimal tax, to which the President has claimed is ‘fake news’. No data to excite in the upcoming Asian session to start the week with so the focus will return to Brexit talks and US stocks to dictate price action later today. The highlight this week will be NFP on Friday but ahead of that we get the first live TV presidential debate due for Tuesday evening where the focus will be how Biden stands up and responds to Trump’s usual aggressive tactics.