General Sentiment

Asian shares have been treading under-water, hovering near seven-month lows, ahead of the Fed decision later today, and regulatory crackdowns in China. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index touched its lowest level while Nikkei fell to a 6 month low as well.

Investors remain cautious, as financial markets get rattled by the resurgence of COVID-19 cases globally and its impact on global recovery.

Equities

Asian declines spread to wall street overnight, with all 3 major indices ending in the red, The Dow lost 0.2%, the S&P 500 also lost 0.5% while the Nasdaq had the biggest slide by 1.2%. Meanwhile Alphabet, Microsoft and Apple reported record earnings, concerns about slow growth pulled the major indices down.

Investors await Amazon and Facebook earnings later this week.

Currency Market

The greenback pulled back from recent highs, after a good month for the USD. As investors drawback some of their cards ahead of the Fed decision.

The sterling also dropped 0.04% to 1.3868, despite it jumping over its 20 day moving average on optimistic reports that the UK will re-open its borders.

The USD/CNY pair nudged lower 0.05% to 6.507.

Commodities; Gold

The safe-haven yellow metal rose in the Asian session this morning, to gain 0.36% to $1,806 levels.

Commodities; Oil

Oil prices were able to break the corrective cycle after US crude inventories fell more than expected last week, outweighing covid-19 resurgence concerns. Brent rose to $74.93 a barrel while WTI rose 0.73% to $72.16.