Log in to today’s North American session Market wrap for August 29
Today’s session brought some extra volatility to complement a fairly dull trading week – Forex Markets had no idea of where to go, with all major pairs rangebound since the weekly open.
Some month-end flows brought Silver and Gold to their highs, and since the end of the London session, Equities have sold off.
Month-end profit-taking is nothing to be afraid off particularly amid ever-growing stock indices, but after a few months of (relative) calm in geopolitics, it seems that tensions are on the rise again.
European powerhouses (France, Germany and the UK) are mad at Iran for not respecting atomic deals (anyone surprised?), Russia and Ukraine get further from a truce, and after reaching deals at the beginning of the month, as the deadlines were coming to their end, some countries like Japan want to review their tariff deals.
September is a traditionally volatile month, but with the current state of things, it seems that this one should be a rollercoaster.
Looking back at August, cryptocurrencies performed very well, the US Dollar rejected its highs (particularly after the month-beginning NFP report), energy commodities took a hit, metals saw big up-swings towards the end of the month, and equities, despite going higher, slowed their pace quite a bit.
Some record highs for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones were still reached and the “Sell in May and go away” adage is still not performing!