Focus On The FOMC Minutes

Focus On The FOMC Minutes

The euro (EUR) is strengthening against most of its major counterparts, as an overnight short-term debt auction by Greece was deemed successful. The debt-ridden nation will use these funds to repay 5 billion EUR of obligation expiring on Friday. This comes one day after, a disagreement between the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the eurozone was revealed. During a press conference, Christine Lagard, IMF’s Managing Director persisted that Greece should return to their debt-to-GDP ratio target of 120% by 2020, while Eurogroup Chairman Juncker voiced his preference for that target to be reached by 2022. Following these developments market participants are bracing for heightening volatility.

Gold (XAU) is in need of a catalyst that will push the precious metal higher or lower versus the US dollar (USD). Gold is currently trading above 1725 US dollars an ounce, having started the week yesterday at 1734.39.

The Australian dollar (AUD) rose from 1.0425 to 1.0443 versus the US dollar (USD) yesterday, and even though overall sentiment is negative, the short term trend appears bullish.

OIL keeps testing the 85 US dollars (USD) a barrel level early in the US session. If the precious commodity manages to break-and-hold below 84.90 then this could pave the way for lower lows