Stocks, bonds, currencies all of them seem to be completely unimpressed with the ECB’s decision, it might be quite a bizarre reaction taking into account how the ECB’s results could be important for markets. In a nutshell, the euro is already the best performing currency in G10, German yields are hovering around the unchanged line, the European equity markets are on the massive rise while gold prices are moving up 0.4%.

The Swedish central bank decided to leave interest rates and its bond buying program unchanged, the decision was widely expected. The SEK has seen a relatively small decline following the statement even as inflation and GDP forecasts for the next year have been revised up. The statement illustrating the economic backdrop was more or less in line with the prior one.

The Asian session was a very calm one as all major indices hung around the breakeven line while the FX moves were strongly constrained. The key releases were unveiled from Australia and disillusioned market participants quite across the board. First and foremost, the most important print – retail sales – came in at 0% mom against a forecast at 0.2% mom. What’s more, the prior reading for June was revised down to 0.2% mom from 0.3% mom. Today’s data was for July, hence it constituted first input to Q3 GDP growth, unfortunately not upbeat.

Looking at the commodity market one could notice that the hurricane Irma should be still closely eyed by investors. Admittedly, swings have been muted so far as oil prices or grains are little changed, but things could evolve in the nearest future. We equipped you with some guidelines regarding which markets might feel an impact of bad weather conditions. Beside those markets included in the above-linked post, grains could take advantage of Irma as well. Let’s pin down that the hurricane could affect crops in the Gulf of the Carolinas when it hits Florida by the weekend. On top of that, dryness in the Midwest could stress crops in states such as Iowa and Illinois, reducing quality as corn and soybeans mature. In effect, soybean prices have rebounded substantially of late pricing in deterioration in grains’ quality. It’s worth mentioning that buying soybean was among our top trade ideas for Q3.

Beyond the ECB’s decision there is a report on a change of US oil inventories as well as manufacturing Ivey PMI from Canada.