Market News

The Federal Reserve meets today and there should be few surprises as the central bank is widely expected to remove the last obstacle to a rate hike later this year.

The Euro managed to edge higher, helped along by the express concerns of the governor of the central bank of Italy who reportedly said that he was worried about the pace of the Quantitative Easing scheme that was launched last week by the European Central Bank.

U.S. stock markets are in the midst of a “patient panic’ ahead of Wednesday’s Federal Reserve meeting when many investors anticipate a change in the Fed’s language that would send the clearest signal yet that a rate hike is coming soon.

The focus this week can be expected to fall mainly on the U.S. Dollar, the British Pound, the Swiss Franc, and the Japanese Yen as significant statements by the respective monetary authorities responsible for each will be forthcoming. Get the economic calendar for the week of March 16, 2015 here.

All three major U.S. stock indices finished trading Friday in the red with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 giving up gains for 2015.

Asian shares shook off early losses on Friday, underpinned by overnight gains on Wall Street, while the dollar steadied after its recent rally ran out of steam on disappointing retail sales data.

For the first time within the fortnight, the Euro pushed higher versus the US Dollar, recovering some losses and moving away from the 12-year trough hit earlier in the session.

The dollar could dominate markets today, as traders watch February's retail sales and weekly jobless claims.

Even as the European Central Bank initiates another asset purchasing program (Quantitative Easing), this one worth some €1.1 trillion when all is said and done, the Euro is already feeling the significant bite of the QE scheme and, as a result, earlier struck a 12-year trough versus its main peer, the US Dollar.

Anxiety over anticipated Fed moves could be driving the markets again.

For the first time in more than a decade, the Euro fell below the $1.08 price level in the wake of another dollar rally which brought the EUR/USD pair closer to parity, an occurrence most analysts did not expect would happen until at least 2016.

The U.S. dollar climbed to multi-year peaks against the euro and yen in Asia on Tuesday amid starkly diverging outlooks for interest rates globally, while currencies from emerging markets came under mounting pressure from risk aversion.

The US Dollar Index took a breather from its recently struck 11-year peak in the wake of last Friday’s unexpectedly upbeat labor report from the US which raised investors’ expectations of an interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve.

Greece’s provisional agreement with creditors to avert a default started to crack as European officials said the country’s latest proposals fell far short of what was tabled two weeks ago and Greek ministers floated the prospect of a referendum if their reforms are rejected.

This week can be expected to be relatively quiet, with the most significant focus falling only on the Euro on Monday, followed by Australia and New Zealand mid-week. Get the economic and political timeline for the week of March 9, 2015 here.