Gold prices, which hit a low of $3,634, have rebounded by 0.2% to $3,666, while WTI crude rose 0.4% to $64.31. In the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin saw a 1.3% increase, trading at $117,178. The market is now looking to US data, particularly weekly initial jobless claims, to either support or challenge current Federal Reserve expectations.<\/p>\n
We’re seeing a positive response in equities, with the market betting that the Fed is nearing its peak. For traders, this suggests looking at bull call spreads on the S&P 500 to capture measured upside. The VIX is currently around 17, indicating some lingering uncertainty, so these defined-risk strategies protect against a downturn if upcoming US data is too hot.<\/p>\n
The drop in 10-year yields to 4.06% shows the market is challenging the Fed’s hawkish tone, much like we saw during periods in late 2023. We believe purchasing call options on 10-year Treasury futures (ZN) could be a good way to bet on this trend continuing. This trade will work if upcoming jobless claims or inflation data show the economy is cooling faster than expected.<\/p>\n
The Bank of England’s decision to hold its rate at 4.00% creates a clear policy split with the Federal Reserve. This divergence puts downward pressure on the pound, as capital flows toward higher-yielding currencies. Therefore, buying puts on GBP\/USD seems like a straightforward way to trade this theme over the next few weeks.<\/p>\n
New Zealand’s economy is showing clear weakness after the recent GDP report showed a 0.2% contraction for the second quarter. This makes the NZD particularly vulnerable, especially as other central banks remain on hold or hawkish. We see the 1.0% drop in NZD\/USD as the start of a new leg down, making put options on the pair an attractive position.<\/p>\n
Gold’s strength, holding above $3,600, shows traders are still seeking protection despite the rally in stocks. With the price already so high, using call spreads is a cost-effective method to speculate on a continued move towards the $3,700 level. This also provides a hedge in case geopolitical tensions, which have been simmering, flare up again.<\/p>\n
Create your live VT Markets account<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0start trading<\/a>\u00a0now. <\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" European markets rose as US futures advanced; currencies, commodities, and Bitcoin showed mixed movements awaiting US data.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":17027,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31024","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-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}