Federal Reserve will stay hawkish on policy tightening

　　

US stocks edged lower on Tuesday, seesawing between gains and losses along the session but gave up ahead of the close amid the bets that the Federal Reserve will stay hawkish on policy tightening. On top of that, recession fears still remained amid the escalating energy crisis, but UK Prime Minister Liz Truss has announced energy bail-outs to cope with the crisis that affects all of Europe. On the economic data side, the US ISM Services PMI improved to 56.9 in August, which came higher than the market’s expectations and showed a slight uptick in the services sector due to increases in business activity. In the Eurozone, the conflict with Russia, which cut all gas provision to Europe, acted as a headwind for the euro and exerted bearish pressure on the market sentiment.

The benchmarks, S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average both suffered slight losses on Tuesday as the recession fears and the hawkish Fed expectations continued to weigh on the equity markets. The S&P 500 was down 0.4% on a daily basis and the Dow Jones Industrial Average also dropped with a 0.5% loss for the day. Seven out of eleven sectors stayed in negative territory as the Communication Services and the Energy sectors are the worst performing among all groups, losing 1.26% and 1.08%, respectively. The Nasdaq 100 fell the most with a 0.7% loss on Tuesday and the MSCI World index was down 0.5% for the day.

Main Pairs Movement

The US dollar advanced higher on Tuesday, preserving its upside traction amid upbeat US ISM Services PMI data. The DXY index was surrounded by bullish momentum for most of the day and touched a daily top near 110.5 level, but then retreated back slightly to erase some daily gains. A surprising improvement in the Services PMI helped the safe-haven greenback to find demand, which printed a fresh two-decade high at 110.55. Investors now waiting for the speech from Fed Chair Jerome Powell scheduled on Thursday.

GBP/USD is little changed on Tuesday as the market focus shifts to speeches from central banks. On the UK front, after securing the position of next UK Prime Minister, Liz Truss is continuously announcing relief packages for households against soaring inflation after securing the position of next UK Prime Minister. The GBP/USD pair climbed to a daily high above the 1.160 mark, but failed to preserve its upside traction and surrendered its early gains. Meanwhile, EUR/USD remained under bearish pressure and extended the slide towards 0.988 amid the escalating energy crisis. The pair was down almost 0.23% for the day.

Gold declined with a 0.50% loss for the day after dropping to a daily low near the $1700 mark during the US trading session, as the stronger US dollar across the board and upbeat US PMI data both dragged the precious metal lower. Meanwhile, WTI oil came under selling pressure and retreated to the $86 area during the second half of the day, as markets worried that high inflation and interest rate hikes will hit oil demand.

Economic Data

Currency	Data	Time (GMT + 8)	Forecast
BRL	Brazil- Independence Day	All Day	–
AUD	GDP (Q2)	09:30	1%
GBP	BoE Gov Bailey Speaks	17:00	–
CAD	BoC Interest Rate Decision	22:00	3.25%
CAD	Ivey PMI (Aug)	22:00	48.3
GBP	BoE MPC Treasury Committee Hearings	22:15	–