- European indices finished today's session lower as Gazprom once again reduced gas exports through the Nord Stream pipeline due to maintenance, prompting EU countries to reach an agreement today to cut gas usage by 15% through next winter, which put further pressure on the Euro. Also, the IMF lowered its economic growth forecast for the Eurozone to 2.6%, citing the war in Ukraine as a major drag on the bloc's major economies.
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Downbeat moods prevail also on Wall Street. Dow Jones is trading 0.30% lower while S&P500 and NASDAQ fell 0.80% and 1.60% respectively dragged by Walmart profit warning and Shopify layoff plans.
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The US Conference Board Consumer Confidence index decreased to 95.7 in July, from the previous month's 98.7 and below market expectations of 97.3.
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Today all eyes will turn to earnings reports from Microsoft and Google, which will be released after session close.
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NATGAS price briefly broke above the $9.4/MMBtu mark, a level not seen since July 2008 as prospects of energy crisis in Europe intensifies.
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Brent crude briefly rose to $ 100 per barrel and WTI to $ 99.00 per barrel, however buyers failed to uphold momentum in the evening and gave away all of the early gains
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Gold trades around $ 1718 per ounce, amid a stronger dollar, while silver jumped to $18.60.
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Currently CHF and JPY are the best performing major currencies while EUR and NZD lag the most.
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Major cryptocurrencies continue to move lower. Bitcoin is testing major support at $21000, while Ethereum broke below $1400 level.
Despite the lack of key macro data releases, the market sentiment deteriorated on Tuesday and it can be seen that investors are waiting for tomorrow's FOMC decision. It is expected that the central bank will raise rates by 75bp, anything below this level should be supportive for stocks and negative for the US dollar.
EURUSD pair fell sharply on Tuesday. From a technical point of view, price pulled back sharply after bulls failed to break above the resistance zone at 1.0275 last week. Today bears took control and the pair broke below support at 1.0155, which may indicate a continuation of the downward trend. Source: xStation5
