DAILY ANALYSIS 25 AUGUST 2022

US indices finished yesterday’s trading slightly higher, snapping a 3-day long downward streak. S&P 500 gained 0.29%, Dow Jones moved 0.18% higher and Nasdaq gained 0.41%. Small cap Russell 2000 jumped 0.84%
Stocks in Asia traded higher on Thursday. Nikkei and S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.7% each, Kospi moved around 1% higher and indices from China traded up to 0.5% higher
DAX futures point to a slightly higher opening of the European cash session

Morning stock market session in Hong Kong was canceled today due to storm
Russia is reportedly offering discounts of up to 30% on long-term oil contracts to Asian buyers in an attempt to offset looming plunge in oil exports to Europe
United States has rejected additional conditions set by Iran for return to nuclear deal
Bank of Korea delivered a 25 basis point rate hike – in-line with market expectations. BoK lowered 2022 GDP growth outlook from 2.7% to 2.6% and boost inflation outlook from 4.5% to 5.2%
New Zealand retail sales dropped 2.3% QoQ in Q2 2022 (exp. +1.7% QoQ)
According to data from UK Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, vehicle sales in the United Kingdom increased 8.6% YoY in July, marking a third month of increases in a row
Cryptocurrencies are trading mixed today – Bitcoin drops 0.4% while Ethereum trades 0.2% higher. Kyber plunges over 4%
Oil is trading a touch lower but Brent stays above $101 per barrel mark
Precious metals benefit from USD weakness – gold gains 0.4% while silver and platinum traded 0.7% and 0.5% higher, respectively
AUD and NZD are the best performing major currencies while USD and CAD lag the most
In spite of a disastrous New Zealand retail sales reading for Q2 2022, NZDUSD is trading higher today. The pair benefits from USD weakness and attempts to break above a key short-term resistance in the 0.6220 area, marked with previous price reactions and upper limit of local market geometry.