After announcing new sanctions on Iran, US President Donald Trump noted that the US is making a lot of progress with China in trade talks. When asked about military options for Iran, "the US is always prepared," Trump repeated, as reported by Reuters. These remarks had little to no impact on the market sentiment. As of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were both up 0.3% on the day while the S&P 500 was erasing 0.9% at 1.773%.

According to the latest headlines crossing the wires, US President Donald Trump said that they have just sanctioned the Iranian National Bank. Commenting on this development, US Treasury of Secretary Mnuchin said that this is the highest sanction ever imposed on a country. "It is the last source of funds for Iran," Mnuchin added, as reported by Reuters. The market reaction stays relatively limited to this announcement. Wall Street's three main indexes remain in the positive territory and the 10-year US Treasury bond yield is down 0.8% on a daily basis.

The pair remained under some heavy selling pressure within a short-term descending channel. Oscillators are already flashing oversold conditions and warrant some near-term consolidation. The NZD/USD pair remained under some heavy selling pressure for the third consecutive session on Friday - also marking its seventh of downfall in the previous eight - and tumbled to fresh multi-year lows in the last hour. The pair has been drifting lower along a one-week-old descending trend-channel formation on hourly charts, clearly indicating a well-established near-term bearish trend amid a goodish intraday pickup in the USD demand. Currently flirting with the lower end of the mentioned trend-channel, extremely oversold conditions on hourly charts might hold back investors from placing fresh bearish bets and warrant some near-term consolidation. Hence, any subsequent fall seems more likely to find some support near August 2015 swing lows, around the 0.6220-15 region, below which the pair might tu..

Commenting on this week's repo market move, Richard Clarida, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors Vice-Chair, told CNBC that the repo issues were not a sign of concern for the US economy. Below are some additional quotes, via Reuters. "Fed acted decisively to address the repo shock." "Fed will be discussing size of the balance sheet at October meeting." "Any future expansion of balance sheet will be "central banking 101", not QE." "US is much less sensitive to oil shocks than in prior decades." "I have a lot of confidence that the US consumer will remain strong."

In an interview with CNBC, Richard Clarida, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors Vice-Chair, explained that the Fed's rate cut this week was an insurance against the downside risk to the outlook. "The US economy is in a good place but there are some risks," Clarida added. "The FOMC will take decisions meeting by meeting." The US Dollar Index seems to be pushing higher on Clarida's comments. As of writing, the index was up 0.22% on the day at 98.58. Below are some additional takeaways, per Reuters. "The center of gravity at the fed is that this week's rate cut was appropriate." "The FOMC does not see elevated financial risks in the economy." "The Fed will be very attentive to data, risks to the outlook in future decisions." "There is clearly a slowing global economy. Global growth is getting worse"

Consumer sentiment improves in the euro area in September. The shared currency fails to take advantage of the data. According to the European Commission's latest business and consumer survey, Flash Consumer Confidence Indicator rose to -6.5 in September from -7.1 and came in better than the market expectation of -7. "In September 2019, the DG ECFIN flash estimate of the consumer confidence indicator increased in both the euro area and the EU (by 0.6 points in both areas)," the press release read. "At −6.5 points (euro area) and −6.4 points (EU), both indicators remain on a broadly horizontal trajectory well above their respective long-term averages of −10.7 (euro area) and −10.0 (EU)." The EUR/USD pair failed to capitalize on the upbeat consumer sentiment data and was last down 0.18% on the day at 1.1020.

The Sterling is dropping sharply in the New York session. The level to beat for sellers is the 1.2460 support level. GBP/USD daily chart The Sterling is trading in a bear trend below the 100 and 200-day simple moving averages (SMAs). However, GBP/USD has been on the rise in Septembre. It has been battling with the 1.2500 handle in the last week. GBP/USD four-hour chart GBP/USD is trading above the main SMAs, suggesting bullish momentum in the medium term. The market is challenging the 1.2460 support as bears took the helm this Friday. If the market loses the 1.2460 level, GBP/USD can correct down towards 1.2405 and 1.2340 price levels, according to the Technical Confluences Indicator. GBP/USD 30-minute chart The Sterling is challenging the 200 SMA. Immediate resistance is the 1.2478 level followed by 1.2510 and the 1.2535 price level, according to the Technical Confluences Indicator. Additional key levels

DXY now trades on a firm footing in the 98.50/60 band. Fed repo operation saw Fed Funds drop to 1.90%. Boston Fed E.Rosengren said rate cuts favour higher prices in risky assets. The US Dollar Index (DXY), which gauges the buck vs. a bundle of its main competitors, has now regained composure and is trading back into the positive territory in the 98.50/60 band. US Dollar Index keeps the rangebound unchanged The index is prolonging the choppy trade so far this week, although managing well to keep weekly gains after two consecutive pullbacks. Nothing changed around the buck in the very near term following the largely anticipated rate cut by the Federal Reserve on Wednesday. In fact, the Greenback should now keep following the developments from the US-China trade negotiations as well as the performance of domestic fundamentals, particularly inflation. Earlier in the day, a new repo operation by the Fed managed to reduce the Fed Funds rate to 1.90%, alleviating at the same time fundi..

The triennial survey published by the Bank for International Settlements (also known as the bank for the central banks) revealed that currencies of emerging market economies further increased their share of overall global FX turnover. Piotr Matys - Emerging Markets FX Strategist at Rabobank, offered his take on the trend. Key Quotes: “Overall, the global share of EM currencies increased by around 4% to 25% between April 2016 and 2019 extending the trend observed in previous surveys. This trend reflects the growing prominence of emerging markets in global trade. While many EMs are exporters who receive hard currencies and exchange at least part of this income to a local currency, demand amongst consumers for Western goods and services is another reason why turnover of EM currencies continues to grow.” “Essentially, emerging economies became more prominent trading partners. They are going through a rough patch due to the trade war, but looking from the long-term perspective it is reaso..

Easing concerns over a global slowdown help market sentiment improve. US President Trump reportedly doesn't want to make a limited deal with China. All 11-major sectors of the S&P 500 are in the positive territory in early trade. Major equity indexes in the United States started the last day of the week in the positive territory supported by positive market sentiment. As of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.2% on the day while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were both adding 0.25%. Earlier today, China's central bank announced that it cut the loan rate for the second month to provide an additional boost to the economy and helped concerns over a global economic slowdown. Moreover, citing a source familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported that US President Donald Trump was not looking to make a limited trade deal with China to allow risk-off flows to take control of markets. Among the 11-major S&P 500 sectors, which are all rising in the early tr..

Nathan Janzen - Senior Economist at Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) Economics Research - offered his take on Friday's weaker Canadian retail sales data for July. Key quotes: “Canadian retail sales have remained (somewhat puzzlingly) soft. The headline sales increase in July was the first in three months and, excluding price impacts, volume sales were unchanged, both from a month earlier and from year ago levels. Flat volume sales from a year ago compare with, ostensibly, strong growth in household purchasing power over the last year. Employment was up 2% from a year ago in July, wage growth was well-above the rate of inflation, and external trade risks have pushed interest rates sharply lower. All of that should be boosting household purchasing power, and consumer confidence levels remain around cycle-highs.” “And, indeed, the broader household spending backdrop arguably still has looked a little better recently. Overall consumer spending growth outperformed the retail sale numbers o..