31 July 2018 ( Lagos )The Federal Reserve is next in line to announce policy on Wednesday. That’s why today’s Core Personal Expenditure figures carry significant importance. If Core PCE came in at 2% or above, it would reinforce expectations for two more rates hikes in 2018. Many traders want to know whether President Donald Trump’s criticism of the Fed will lead to a change in language; we believe there will be no change in guidance and the Fed will continue sending the message that more rate hikes are on the way.

We also have inflation and Q2 GDP numbers from the Eurozone. Consumer Price Index figures are expected to rise 2.0% y-o-y in July, remaining unchanged from June. Meanwhile, GDP growth is expected to see a 0.3% fall from a year ago, towards 2.2%.

In equity markets, the tech sector continued to weigh on sentiment. Shares of Facebook, Twitter and Netflix plunged further on Monday, as investors started to become more worried about their business models after they announced their latest earnings results. Amazon and Alphabet were also dumped. Meanwhile, all eyes will shift to Apple earnings today in the hopes of providing some support for FAANG stocks.

Source: Hussein Sayed, Chief Market Strategist at FXTM

Reporting for EasyKobo on Tuesday, 31 July 2018 in Lagos, Nigeria