With yesterday’s successful signing of a trade agreement between the United States and China, investors can once again look towards more traditional fundamentals in order to determine what the trends on the financial markets are like.
First off, we see positive developments in the stock markets. The impact of the trade agreement between the US and China was already largely priced in, but indices marked growth regardless.
Today we expect numerous reports. In the United States, there will be news on the retail sales for December, as well as more employment reports. Moreover, investors will also hear from the Federal Reserve today.
It might be beneficial today to keep an eye on emerging markets, as they are quite busy right now. In Russia, there are new political issues as President Putin is trying to ensure he remains in power through new controversial reforms, and is currently reshuffling the government after many resignations. Understandably, the Russian ruble crashed. In addition, the central bank of Turkey decided to slash interest rates again in order to support the Turkish lira amid the rampart inflation in the country.
Meanwhile, the European Union is hard at work to tackle climate change. Germany unveiled a plan to transition away from coal by 2035, which would help the EU craft the legislation to encourage other countries to also switch to greener sources of energy.
