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US equity futures are pointing lower at the open once again, although have pared back some of their losses following the tit-for-tat trade tariff announcements between China and the United States. Yesterday, the Trump administration announced $50 billion of tariffs on Chinese goods while China in turn responded with announcing its own $3 billion tariff on US goods. The early signs of a global trade war have spooked market participants, with USD/JPY cracking on to a fresh yearly low. Elsewhere, focus remains on the potential US government shutdown, as earlier today US President Trump said he was considering vetoing the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending package.
DailyFX Economic Calendar: Friday, March 23, 2018 – North American Releases
The bulk of the North American economic calendar is in the rearview mirror for Friday, with several important data releases having already shaped price action around the US equity open. February Canadian CPI was stronger than expected, providing another boost to the Loonie after Canada was previously exempted from the Trump administration’s tariffs. However, gains were stunted by a mixed January Canadian Retail Sales report. Out of the United States, the preliminary February Durable Goods Orders report was well-above expectations, likewise providing some relief for the US Dollar which had been pressured by the tariff announcement towards China yesterday.
DailyFX Webinar Calendar: Monday, March 26, 2018
IG Client Sentiment Index Chart of the Day: Spot Gold
Spot Gold: Retail trader data shows 68.6% of traders are net-long with the ratio of traders long to short at 2.19 to 1. The number of traders net-long is 4.2% higher than yesterday and 13.9% lower from last week, while the number of traders net-short is 3.1% lower than yesterday and 17.6% higher from last week.
We typically take a contrarian view to crowd sentiment, and the fact traders are net-long suggests Spot Gold prices may continue to fall. Positioning is more net-long than yesterday but less net-long from last week. The combination of current sentiment and recent changes gives us a further mixed Spot Gold trading bias.
Learn more about the IG Client Sentiment Index on the DailyFX Sentiment page
Five Things Traders are Reading
- “USD/JPY Breaks Symmetrical Triangle, at Fresh Yearly Lows on Trade Concerns” by Christopher Vecchio, CFA, Senior Currency Strategist
- “Charts for Next Week – USD/CHF, GBP/JPY, DAX, S&P 500 & More (Video)” by Paul Robinson, Market Analyst
- “USDCHF Heads Lower on US Trade War Escalation” by Nick Cawley, Analyst
- “Bounce Over for Cryptocurrencies? A look at Ethereum, Ripple & Litecoin” by Paul Robinson, Market Analyst
- “USD/JPY Fell to Session Low Following McMaster Resignation News” by Varun Jaitly, DailyFX Research
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