Morning Wrap (27.08.2024)

Indices from the Asia-Pacific region are having a slightly positive session. The main benchmarks from China are gaining between 1.00-1.30%, Japan's Nikkei 225 is up by 0.70%, Australia's S&P/ASX200 is 0.15% lower, and futures on the Singapore index SG20cash are up by 0.20%.

Futures on European indices also indicate a higher opening for the cash session. DAX is up by 0.15%, and UK100 by 0.36%.

In the forex market in the first part of the day, one of the stronger currencies is the Australian dollar and the New Zealand dollar, gaining between 0.3-0.4%. On the other side is the USD dollar, which is retracting after yesterday's slight gains. The USD dollar index USDIDX is losing 0.05% to the level of 100.7000.

The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Mary Daly, said that in her opinion, the central bank of the USA should start lowering interest rates. According to Daly, a cut in September is already a done deal.

Furthermore, if the job market weakens more than expected, then the Fed will be forced into more aggressive cuts. Like Powell, speaking about rate cuts, Daly did not mention a mild 25 bp cut, indicating that a cut of 50 bp might also be on the table.

According to the American command, the risk of further escalation in the Middle East has now slightly decreased without further retaliatory actions after the weekend exchange of fire.

Oil price paused gains, with WTI consolidating slightly above $77 a barrel.

Bitcoin continues to consolidate after rising to $64,000. Prices are slightly sliding to $63,000 in anticipation of a solid impulse for the next move. At the time of publishing, Bitcoin is up by 0.50% to $63,100, Ethereum is up by 0.45% to $2,700, and the market cap of other Altcoins by 1.00% to a total market cap of $598 billion USD.