Afternoon Market Update – 20/01/2017 – by Jazz Singh
January 20, 2017The dollar is on the rise this morning as we await Donald Trump’s inauguration this afternoon. We expect him to be bullish at his first speech as President which would extend this greenback climb and also boost equity markets. Following weaker than expected UK retail sales this morning, sterling has weakened considerably against its major counterparts. Cable has made a 100 pip move to the downside, finding support at the $1.2260 region. A further bout of dollar strength should breach this level, opening up the gates to the $1.220 psychological handle. USDJPY continues to strengthen today with the pair dropping slightly from its best levels in recent trade. Equities remain stagnant this session with US stock futures only slightly in the green. Having strengthened for most of this week, gold has dropped 0.5 percent this morning to just below the $1200 handle. We have CPI data from Canada this afternoon preceding the main event of President Trump’s speech, expected around 18:00 GMT.
