Hurricane Irma Outweighs Tax Reform Talks 8-9-2017

Greenback Tumbles as Hurricane Irma Looms. The Greenback logged in another session in the red despite talks of tax reform as Hurricane Irma, which has become one of the biggest storms ever measured poses another threat to growth. The dollar index sank to the 91.4 area – a level not seen since January 15.

Euro Rocks after ECB Meeting. The euro got a big boost this morning after the European Central Bank made its monetary policy statement. As expected, the ECB decided to hold its interest rate unchanged during its two-day meeting. The ECB meeting also gave the market a good sense of the overall policy direction, and hints on the central bank’s tapering plan.

Gold Breaks Out. The weak dollar and geopolitical concerns fueled the rally of precious metals, indicating that traders are not in the mood to increase risk appetite just yet. Gold is up 1.14% to $1,354.31 per troy ounce. Silver is up 1.70% to $18.214 per troy ounce.

Oil Markets Move Little With Industry. Oil prices were little changed on Friday as the international petroleum industry remains in the grip of Caribbean hurricanes which have hit the region for the last two weeks. Brent crude futures LCOc1, the benchmark for oil prices outside the United States, were up 11 cents to $54.60 a barrel. As of Thursday, about 3.8 million barrels of daily U.S. refining capacity, or about 20 percent, was still shut. Traders said it would take weeks for the U.S. petroleum industry to return to full capacity, and that under the current conditions it was difficult to identify fundamental market trends.

Watch Out Today For:

08:30 am GMT: GBP Consumer Inflation Expectations

08:30 am GMT: AUD RBA’s Governor Philip Lowe Speech

12:30 pm GMT: CAD Unemployment Rate, Net Change in Employment

By MEX Group Team

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