USD Sliding Once More As Equities Come Under Mounting Selling Pressure

 | Sep 21, 2020 08:17

h5 Market Overview

There is a slight but growing pressure that the dollar seems to be coming under early this week. Underperforming across the major currencies, the Dollar Index is ticking lower and is threatening the initial support around 92.70. A breach would be a two week low for the dollar and suggest that the early September rally had once more been used as a chance to sell. In part this is a function of market response to the FOMC meeting last week, but equally it comes as Wall Street appears to be under mounting corrective pressure. The S&P 500 closed below its 55 day moving average (a medium term trend indicator) for the first time since April. With US futures showing further declines early today, the negative pressure on equity markets is growing. Selling into a dovish Fed and a weakening dollar is not the usual playbook for Wall Street, so it will be interesting to see if this is just seen as another chance to buy. However, technical topping patterns have been rare since the recovery kicked in back in March. So, these moves need to be treated with some caution.

Wall Street closed decisively lower on Friday with tech again leading the sell-off. The S&P 500 was -1.1% at 3319 whilst the E-mini S&Ps futures are -0.6% early today. Asian markets have been lower, with the Shanghai Composite -0.7% (Nikkei shut for public holiday). European equities look under pressure early today, with FTSE futures -1.3% and DAX futures -1.1%. In forex, the USD negative play is still in force, with GBP and AUD being marginal outperformers, whilst JPY is also doing well. In commodities, gold is unable to break the shackles and is consolidating, whilst silver is marginally lower, but oil is around -1% back as the recent rebound appears to have run out of steam.

There is nothing on the economic calendar of any real note today.

There are several Fed speakers to look out for today. Fed chair Powell speaks via satellite at 1500BST but is not due to speak about monetary policy, so the impact may be reduced this time. The same could be said for FOMC’s Lael Brainard who is speaking at 1700BST and FOMC’s John Williams (NYSE:WMB) at 2300BST.

Chart of the Day – EUR/JPY

A consolidation between 124.40/127.05 has now decisively broken down and the outlook is turning increasingly corrective. The close below 124.40 recently completed a six week top pattern and implies downside of around -260 pips towards 121.80 in the coming weeks. The pullback rally failure around the neckline resistance of 124.40 on Friday (adding further resistance at 124.30) now opens the way for further correction this week. Initial support is at 123.00/123.30 but with momentum indicators increasingly deteriorating this could easily pull the market towards the target. Daily RSI is below 40 and at its lowest since May, whilst MACD lines and Stochastics are moving into bearish configuration. We look to use intraday rallies as a chance to sell now. A move 125.00 is needed to improve the outlook.

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