Today’s focus turns to US retail sales

Strangely enough, the major currency pairs are largely unchanged after the weekend Syria airstrikes. The USD initially rallied but that move turned out to be short-lived and that now has traders wondering what the next move will be.

The situation is now turning into a ‘threat fest’ with Russian President Vladimir Putin warning on Sunday that further Western attacks on Syria would bring chaos to world affairs. In the meantime, Washington is preparing to increase pressure on Russia with new economic sanctions.

The safe-haven trade (buy YEN & CHF) is hardly in play and tells one of two things: Either the market doesn’t see this as a major event OR they think it’s the end of the event.

I’d say the latter and traders are somewhat disinterested after the last month or two of Trump antics.

Equity markets are basically unchanged and the price of Oil fell, also suggesting that this event has reached its conclusion.

I’m hoping the Syrian/Russian issue is over as we have a huge week of great economic data scheduled starting with US retail sales later today.

The USD is evenly poised so variance in the retail sales data should provide a trading opportunity although it is sitting mid-range at the moment.

We have major data being released in all sessions across the week so relax and give the market time to reconnect after the weekend.

It’s a good idea to focus on the pairs that have major releases this week so I’d be tuning up your GBP & CAD charts and their respective crosses, as that’s potentially where the best trades will come from.

Check our Next Best Trades Watchlist for full details as to which specific pairs we are focusing on.

Asian Session

No major releases to consider and that’s a good thing as traders try and work out what the impact of the Syrian airstrikes really is.

USDJPY is somewhat asleep so I’ll be hanging out and simply doing my technical analysis and watching for now.

European Session

No major releases scheduled. But keep an eye on the news wires as any major moves will come from UK PM May or US President Putin.

You have to expect some comments and since they’ll be left-field releases I’m not going to be getting involved just yet.

North American Session

It’s not often we get ‘prime-time’ US economic data on a Monday, so make sure you tune into the US retail sales data today.

If the retail sales data is variant (either side) it could give us immediate direction for the USD for the entire week.

But of course, beware the Trumpinator as you have to expect him to be gloating over the weekend airstrikes.

So we have geopolitics v economics ….. unfortunately in this scenario geopolitics wins. But if there are no comments then the data has a chance to impact.

Technical Set Up – What’s Happening with the Majors

Today’s Fundamental Drivers

Plan the Trade, Trade the Plan!

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Make sure you don’t waste unnecessary time in front of the screens.

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The key to your success: Isolate the opportunities that work for you and focus on them.

Don’t worry about things that you can’t make…..chasing them will only cause problems (tiredness & irrational behavior will take over).

Tune up your charts & get ready to trade…..see you in the 247 Trade Zone!

Brad