Yesterday’s lack of Economic Calendar releases was expected to be a relatively calm session, but looking at the bigger picture (as a trader should always due), geopolitical turmoil was poised to move market.

The upcoming July 9th Trump deadline had been overlooked too much for too long, as the past few weeks of ecstatic mood had taken markets from War fears to Greed levels unseen in 2025.

The infamous Trump tariffs appear more real than ever, with yesterday’s letters that were sent to different country leaders – with the latest being a menace to Japan of 25% tariffs on all imports from the Land of the Rising Sun – USD/JPY is up 1.15% (1660 pips) on the session.

Oil has started to move upwards, as markets shred off higher supply – however some of that movement had been felt from technical hints, as seen in our latest WTI Analysis which can still provide good insights for levels of interest.

All energy products are also getting dragged up by this uptrend, further supplemented by some increased tensions in Russia and Ukraine.

An upper US Dollar has dragged Stock indices quite a lot, with all major Indices in the US down between 0.90% ( S&P 500 and Nasdaq ) to 1.10% ( Dow Jones ) – The Russell and the Nippon Nikkei are both down above 1.60% from the tariff fears.

Daily Cross-Asset Performance]

Volatility is a self-defeating prophecy in financial markets, where a lack of economic data releases don’t always translate to lower volatility. Yesterday was a perfect example of that.

Many assets gapped on their weekly open with markets expressing some form of hangover from past weeks of Wonderland trading – The US Dollar is the strongest of all currencies, Stock Indices retrace majorly, Oil is back on top and US Bonds are the biggest laggers of the session.

Ethereum is really standing out in the past few sessions and overdue for an analysis – coming up in tomorrow’s session.

A Picture of Performance for Major Currencies

The US Dollar is largely on top of majors, followed by the GBP which is seeing some reliefs from the already concluded UK-US Trade Deals – more on these deals coming soon too as promised by the US Secretary Scott Bessent.

As mentioned in the introduction, the Yen is the biggest loser of majors down above 1.10% vs the USD, with all other currencies also down between -0.50% to 0.90% against the Greenback.

A Look at Economic Data

MarketPulse Economic Calendar

Today should be as volatile as yesterday, with more economic releases expected and markets that should keep pricing out the Trump TACO towards the Trump Actually Means It theme.

Markets will be seeing two central bank Rate Decisions in the next 24 hours, including the RBA expected to cut by 25 bps (check out our latest AUD/USD Analysis to gain some edge for the overnight event) at 00:30 ET.

The other will be tomorrow evening’s RBNZ Rate decision expected unchanged, releasing tomorrow at 10:00 P.M.

For the rest, there will be the Canadian Ivey PMI Data expected at 49.1 (10:00 A.M. ET) and some inflation data from China.

Safe Trades!

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