Markets continue to recover from the sell-off last Friday, although many Geo-Political and economic balls, remain in the air. The US/China trade war threats have lessened, with a much more conciliatory response, now being taken by the US. The US Government shut-down rolls on, meanwhile the world media is enamoured with the Middle East peace. The IMF and World Bank meet in Washington this week, so there may well be some interesting nuggets, thrown up from there. German inflation was steady, while UK Unemployment jumped to 4.8%, reflecting the pressure the UK economy is under. The EUR trades around 1.1600, while the GBP drifted to 1.3300, following the employment data release.The uncertainty in markets did not assist commodity currencies, with the NZD testing the downside of 0.5700, while the AUD surrendered 0.6500. The RBA minutes confirmed a holding pattern for rates in Australia, as the focus remains inflation, rather than monetary stimulus.
