US Dollar Begins The Week Lower But Is It A Trend Changing Move?

 | Nov 11, 2019 08:40

Market Overview

After the big dollar rally of the past week, there is a degree of unwind across major markets today. The developments in the trade dispute between the US and China continue to dominate the broad market sentiment. Whilst US President Trump pushed back on claims that both sides were ready to reduce tariffs proportionately, there is a sense that some sort of agreement is close.

There has been a significant steepening of the US yield curve in recent weeks and an accelerated move higher in longer dated yields has helped to strengthen the dollar. The move has also seen a realignment of flow out of bond markets and into equities to push Wall Street into all-time high territory. The move has also see assets such as gold also starting to show signs of direction after weeks of painstaking range play. A mild unwind in all of these moves is being seen early today but with little real driver, so is unlikely to be the start of a turnaround quite yet.

Wall Street closed higher into the end of the session on Friday with the S&P 500 +0.3% at 3093. US futures are corrective today though, down around -0.4%. Asian markets are lower with the Nikkei lower by -0.3%, whilst the Shanghai Composite -1.8% after Chinese PPI fell more than expected. European markets are following US futures lower with the FTSE futures and DAX futures both -0.4%. There is a USD slip across forex majors today with the only exception being a slight underperformance on AUD. In commodities, gold has rebounded slightly by around half a percent, whilst oil is a percent lower.

On the economic calendar the big focus is on UK growth. At 09:30 GMT the Prelim reading of UK Q3 GDP is expected to grow by +0.4% (form a final reading of -0.2% in Q2). UK Industrial Production for September with a loss of -0.2% in the month of September which would improve the year on year to -1.2% (from -1.8% YoY in August). Furthermore the UK Trade Balance is also at 09:30 GMT which is expected to marginally deteriorate to -10.0% in September (-£9.8bn in August).

Chart of the Day – Silver

There has been a significant deterioration in the outlook for precious metals in recent days. This has resulted in a breakdown on silver. A closing break below the October low of $16.85 took silver to a two and a half month low and if confirmed today, marks a significant shift in outlook. The market has been relatively stable over recent months in a sideways range (between 40/60 on RSI), but Friday’s decisive move lower has come with RSI under 40 to a five month low, whilst MACD lines are getting traction now. If the move is confirmed by a second day closing breach of $16.85 then a much deeper correction could be developing. The breach of the 50% Fibonacci retracement at $16.95 means that this opens a downside test of the 61.8% Fib around $16.30 as the next move. The overhead supply of $16.85/$17.12 also becomes an area of resistance and potential sell zone now. Subsequently the early rebound this morning could be viewed as an opportunity if the rally starts to stall. Initial support around $16.55 under which is August higher low at $15.88.