In December, UK nationwide housing prices rose 0.6% year-on-year, which was below the forecast of 1.2%. This indicates a slowdown in the housing market compared to expectations.<\/p>\n
EUR\/USD currency pair saw a decrease, trading below 1.1750, due to a modest recovery in the US Dollar. GBP\/USD stabilised just above 1.3450, struggling to gain further traction amidst a holiday lull in trading activity.<\/p>\n
Gold prices climbed toward $4,400 after a correction, likely influenced by expectations of a dovish Fed policy and ongoing geopolitical risks. Cardano began the New Year positively, rising above $0.36, with technical indicators suggesting a potential breakout.<\/p>\n
The economic outlook for advanced countries in 2026-2027 appears optimistic, buoyed by factors that were supportive in 2025. Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market experienced volatility in 2025 but benefited from favourable regulatory changes and rising interest in Digital Asset Treasuries.<\/p>\n
Various broker recommendations and analyses for 2026 focus on different trading aspects, such as low spreads, high leverage, and tailored accounts. It is crucial for individuals to conduct their own research and remember that all trading involves risks.<\/p>\n
The UK housing price data for December 2025 came in much weaker than expected at just 0.6% year-on-year, missing the 1.2% forecast. This indicates that the Bank of England’s rate hikes from last year are finally hitting the economy hard. We should consider using derivatives to position for further Sterling weakness against the dollar, as GBP\/USD struggles to hold above 1.3450.<\/p>\n
We saw a similar dynamic back in late 2023, when a sharp slowdown in the property market preceded a major shift in interest rate expectations. That year, UK house prices saw an annual fall of 1.8% according to Nationwide, prompting markets to price in rate cuts for 2024. Given this new weak data, we can expect the market to increase bets that the Bank of England will cut rates sooner than the US Federal Reserve.<\/p>\n
Gold’s strength is being driven by expectations of a dovish Federal Reserve policy, with markets largely ignoring the modest short-term dollar recovery. The consensus is that after last year’s economic resilience, slowing inflation will give the Fed cover to begin easing policy in 2026. This sentiment should support buying call options on gold futures, as geopolitical risks also remain a persistent factor.<\/p>\n
The Euro is also showing signs of strain, weighed down by the downbeat manufacturing data mentioned for the Eurozone. Recent Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) figures from Germany have been hovering just above the 50 mark that separates growth from contraction, a fragility we saw throughout 2024 and 2025. This suggests the European Central Bank has little room to support the currency.<\/p>\n
The clearest opportunities for the coming weeks appear to be in currency markets, focusing on the relative weakness of the British and European economies. Therefore, we are looking at strategies that profit from a fall in both GBP\/USD and EUR\/USD. These trades remain attractive even if the Fed signals a more dovish stance later in the quarter, as the UK and EU economic data is deteriorating more quickly.<\/p>\n
Create your live VT Markets account<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0start trading<\/a>\u00a0now. <\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" UK housing slows, EUR\/USD dips, gold climbs, Cardano rises, 2026 outlook optimistic, trading risks remain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":17032,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-live-updates"],"acf":{"acf_article_selection_author":null},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}