There is a new benchmark for major central banks and that is the Bank of Canada, who decided to hike by 25 bps yesterday and then head to the sidelines. They are the first one to do so and by all measures, all other major central banks are more hawkish than they are at the moment - yes, including the BOJ.
The question is, who is the next one to follow? I think in terms of market expectations, there are good bets that the BOE and RBA would been next. But the latter is a bit of a question mark now as Australia inflation data continues to come in hot. As for the former, it is more so that the worsening economy is going to force them to pause eventually.
That said, even if they are not pausing yet, the Fed slowing down will be a marked change for broader market sentiment as well. And with the BOC already off the field, it seems like markets are expecting the Fed to also signal such intentions sooner rather than later. That is potentially one why the dollar stumbled in trading yesterday.
But amid the BOC policy shift, we saw Wall Street recover from a poor start to erase nearly all losses on the day. In the case of the Dow, it did and closed higher for a fourth straight day. The S&P 500 was marginally lower but buyers will take that as a win after the ugly start, and that is encouraging for this week's attempted technical break.
Looking ahead, key US data later in the day will offer something for markets to work with while in Europe, we might be in for a quieter one unless there are some risk flows to influence proceedings.
1100 GMT - UK January CBI retailing reported sales
That's all for the session ahead. I wish you all the best of days to come and good luck with your trading! Stay safe out there.