Trump/Kim Sign An Accord, Markets Breathe A Sigh Of Relief

 | Jun 12, 2018 08:11

Market Overview

The initial suggestions coming out of the Trump/Kim summit in Singapore are that the meeting has gone well, and financial markets are breathing a sigh of relief. Whilst clearly there is time for Donald Trump to throw a spanner in the works, the inaugural meeting of leaders from the US and North Korea appears to have been constructive.

Signing a “very comprehensive” accord is a good start, whilst the North Koreans have pledged a move towards complete “denuclearization”, although we are yet to know the details and exactly what this means. North Korea has promised denuclearization before, yet nothing came of it. However certainly this is a time for positives.

The issue for the G7 at the weekend is that the whole concept of multi-lateral trade agreements is against what Donald Trump believes in, and so he sought to scupper the meeting. However, the maverick narcissist US President would just love to be lauded for being the one that brings a despot such as Kim Jong Un into the international fold. Quite what the meeting will achieve in the long term is yet to be seen, but anything that helps to reduce geopolitical risk in the emerging Asia region which has been a hub for such considerable economic growth during the recovery, can only help to improve risk appetite.

Subsequently we are seeing positive risk through rising Treasury yields, forex majors, gold weaker and equities higher. Away from Singapore, there is a packed economic calendar to drive volatility today, with US inflation and the start of the two day Federal Reserve meeting on the agenda, whilst UK wage growth and a key Brexit Parliamentary debate will also feature.

Wall Street showed little direction into the close with the S&P 500 +0.1% at 2784, whilst US futures are ticking slightly higher in early moves. Asian markets have responded positively to events in Singapore with the Nikkei +0.5%, whilst European markets are also higher in early moves, with the DAX set to perform strongly.

In forex, there is a push higher for the US dollar, whilst the yen is the main underperformer. The higher risk commodity currencies, the Aussie and Kiwi, are performing well.

In commodities, the stronger dollar and positive risk environment is dragging gold lower, but not excessively so, only down by around $3; whilst oil is being supported by positive risk.

The meeting between Trump and Kim is undoubtedly the main even for traders, but there is also a packed economic calendar too. Starting with UK unemployment at 09:30 BST which is expected to stay at 4.2% again. However for the Bank of England, the UK wage data is far more important, with UK average weekly earnings expected to remain at +2.9% again on an ex-bonus year on year basis

Get The App
Join the millions of people who stay on top of global financial markets with Investing.com.
Download Now

For the eurozone, German ZEW Economic Sentiment is at 10:00 BST and is expected to deteriorate further to -14.0 (from -8.2 last month) which would be a third month in negative territory again the lower level since November 2012.

The US CPI data is the most highly anticipated data release of the day at 1330BST which is expected to show headline CPI increasing to +2.7% (from +2.5% last month) whilst core CPI is expected to tick slightly higher to +2.2% (from +2.1% last month).

Chart of the Day – USD/CAD

The outlook for the Canadian dollar seems to be under pressure once more in the wake of the G7 but how has this impacted the technical outlook on USD/CAD? The uptrend that has been in place since the mid-April low at 1.2520, building with a sequence of higher lows and trading above all the rising moving averages, continues to reflect the ongoing improving outlook. There has been a pivot forming throughout much of this period at 1.2900 acting as a basis of support over the past week, and any corrective slip back towards the pivot is being used as a chance to buy. There is a positive bias to momentum configuration which suggests although there is no flood of buying pressure, the uptrend (that comes in around 1.2860 today) should continue to build. Tests above 1.3000 have struggled to maintain traction, with yesterday’s candle the latest one to pullback, however the bullish drift continues and a close above 1.3000 would begin to see the bulls gaining further confidence to tests higher and the March high of 1.3125 would come closer into view. Initial resistance is at 1.3040/1.3065. A breach of support at 1.2815 would shift the outlook to more corrective again.