Two more trading sessions remain in the forex market until the end of this week and calendar year, and today the forex market economic calendar has important fundamental news related mostly to the US economy, with several economic announcements having the potential to move the US Dollar.
These are the main economic events to focus on the forex market today, which can add both volatility and price action, thus trading opportunities.
European Session
- Russia Markit Manufacturing PMI
Time: 06:00 GMT
The Manufacturing Purchasing Manager’s Index is an important economic indicator, which measures the business conditions in the manufacturing sector, and also provides useful economic insights on the broader economic health of the economy. A value above 50.0 indicates industry expansion and below indicates contraction. Rising or better than expected figures for the Markit manufacturing PMI Index will be positive for the Russian economy and should be supportive for the Russian Ruble as well.
American Session
- US Wholesale Inventories, Initial Jobless Claims, Chicago PMI, EIA Crude Oil Stocks Change, Natural Gas Stocks Change, Gasoline Stocks Change
Time: 13:30GMT, 14:45GMT, 15:30 GMT, 16:00 GMT
The first economic event is the release of monthly US wholesale inventories, which measures the change in the number of inventories for the manufacturing sector. Higher than expected or rising readings indicate a slower economic growth and a weaker demand for manufactured products, and lower consumer spending, being negative for the US Dollar. The forecast is for a reading of 0.4% on a monthly basis, higher than the previous reading of -0.5%. Also the expectations are for lower readings related to the initial jobless claims and the Chicago PMI index, which measures business activity in the region of Chicago.
While declining numbers of initial jobless claims are a positive fundamental factor for the US economy signaling a strong labor market, a declining economic and business activity in the region of Chicago, is not positive for the US economy, signaling a slowdown in business conditions. The index is expected to decline, with a reading of 62.5, lower than the previous reading of 63.9, but a trend analysis is more indicative of just a large decline or increase in the index, as seasonality may be important in the final outcome. The weekly release of the inventories of crude oil, natural gas and gasoline have the potential to move the crude oil prices, especially if there are any large positive or negative surprises in the actual versus expected figures.
If for example the following scenario occurs, and there is a lower increase in the number of crude oil inventories compared to the expectation, then there is a strong demand for oil, and this is supportive or positive for the oil prices. Oil prices are trading at a near two-and-a-half year high, and specific supply disruptions were another catalyst for their recent rally in prices.
Pacific Session
- Australia HIA New Home Sales
Time: 00:00 GMT
This index measures the number of new single family homes sales, with rising readings being supportive and positive for the housing market, and the Australian Dollar, reflecting a robust housing market and increased consumer confidence for the future economic outlook. When consumers are confident about the economic outlook, then in economic theory housing market should be strong, leading to a higher economic growth as consumer spending should be also rising.
