Summary:

  • German equities post stellar gains

  • Litecoin eyes $150 handle

  • Investors await FOMC meeting

European investors seem to return from the Holiday in good moods as major stock benchmarks from the Old Continent post decent gains on Wednesday. Apart from that, GDP reading for the euro zone was released today and it came in line with forecasts signalling that the EMU grew at the pace of 2.5% YoY in first quarter of 2018. GBP is the strongest currency in the G10 basket followed by its Antipodean peers. On the other hand, USD and SEK are the biggest underperformers. Investors around the world wait for the FOMC meeting and decision scheduled for today’s evening.

Although the Federal Reserve is unlikely to break its tradition, and therefore no one expects a rate hike at today’s non-press conference meeting, the event could equip investors with additional hints with respect to the rate outlook for the remainder of 2018.

Infineon Technologies is the biggest gainer from the DAX index today. This can be accounted to the Apple’s earnings report that was released overnight. As the report brought relief and the concerns waned Apple suppliers around the world are trading higher and Infineon is no exception.

A majority of main cryptocurrencies lost some ground during their first trading day in May, but underlying trends did not evolve at all. Looking through revelations regarding virtual currencies it’s worth paying special attention to the news coming from France.

Major US indices gained traction on Tuesday amid quite tepid trading in Europe where most of stock exchanges were closed due to Labour Day. Equity investors were impatiently awaiting a financial statement from Apple which proved to meet expectations, and the company decided to reward investors with increased dividend as well as a new buyback program.

It’s going to be a big day for US dollar traders, but not just for them, as an avalanche of data will be going out during the day. Of course, the FOMC statement seems to be a cherry on top, but given the ongoing revival of the greenback one needs to be cautious as some of potentially bullish hints may have been already priced in.