04.09.14

Good morning,

Australian Retails Sales rose by 0.4% for July, in line with forecasts. AUDUSD was trading at 0.9334 at time of writing. Japanese foreign investments were down in August with USDJPY trading at close to yearly highs, at 104.94 Yen weakness with the Bank of Japan maintaining asset purchases by 60-70 trillion yen per year to reflate the economy, following April sales tax increase.

The NIKKEI was trading at 15676.18 down 52.17 points, a decline of 0.33% for the session.

European markets today await the Interest Rate decisions of both the Bank of England and the European Central Bank. Monetary Policy statements will follow these decisions. Euro weakness lately has led to speculation that ECB President Mario Draghi could begin a round of Quantitative Easing. The Bank of England is expected to keep rates fixed at 0.5% where forecasts also predict that the ECB will leave rates unchanged at 0.15% EURUSD is trading close to yearly lows, at 1.3138. CABLE is trading at 1.6452

The FTSE100 closed at 6873.58 yesterday, while the DAX closed at 9626.49

Today we see Canadian Trade Balance and American Jobless figures across the Atlantic. The ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI is expected to fall to 57.5 from 58.7 for August. Gas and Crude Oil traders will take note of the EIA figures due out this session. NGAS was trading at 3.860 while USOIL was trading at $94.73 per barrel at time of writing. GOLD is trading at$1270 per ounce after reaching a monthly low of $1261.22 yesterday. Looking ahead to tomorrow we will see updated Unemployment rate figures for both Canada and the United States.

The DOW closed at 17078.28, up just 10.72 points, or 0.06%

Hope you all have a good day.