Chaotic flows to start a Central Bank week – North American Session Market Wrap for March 16

Log in to today's North American session Market wrap for March 16

Trying to make sense of today's price action was just a headache – and this resumes the latest Market action fairly well.

If you were only looking at Oil and the US Dollar, things were at least a bit coherent. After closing at $98 last Friday, Crude opened with a scary gap higher to $102, but has since retracted below $95.

Naturally, the Petrodollar followed suit, tumbling 1% on average against most of its FX counterparts. Antipodean currencies loved it the most, with the Kiwi Dollar bouncing after a rough first half of the Month, along with the Aussie Dollar.

The reasoning for this is that signs of life in the Strait of Hormuz have emerged, with Iran still leveraging its influence in the most significant region in recent days.

A Pakistani tanker crossed the Strait overnight, as the Pakistani government condemned the ongoing American attacks against the Iranian regime.

But that wasn't the only tanker crossing, with two Indian LNG ships making their way between the small Hormuz and Larak Kuhi islands, seemingly avoiding the larger Strait.

This, along with an Axios report revealing that communications between Washington and Iran have reopened, helped to soothe Market sentiment.

Global Equities have all appreciated in a cautious rebound, but the fact that they did not close at their session highs indicates that the path ahead remains uncertain.

What is for sure is that Metals are now facing a mix of headwinds, including a seemingly worsening Iran conflict, inflationary fears, and general positioning ahead of this week's huge Central Bank calendar.

To learn more about what's coming up this week, go check out our Weekly Markets outlook.

Read More:

• Metals fake-out to the downside; Opportunity? – Gold (XAU/USD) & Silver (XAG/USD) update
• A test of confidence for Stocks – Dow Jones and US Index Outlook
• RBA Preview: Why a 25bps hike to 4.1% is the most likely outcome

The Stock Market heatmap is looking much more mixed than it was at the peak of today's action. Nevertheless, a few sectors have arisen from today's rebound.

Tech continues to find relief, along with Transportations and Producer Manufacturing – Still, keep a close eye on what happens to the Financials with the ongoing Private Credit stress narratives.

Nvidia just showed a pump-fake at the end of the session, with the CEO Jensen Huang forecasting even larger revenues ahead – Something that Markets have been widely punishing as of late.

Today's session marked some easing in the inflationary pressures, as can be seen with risk-assets rebounding, but also dragging Bonds with them while the Dollar and Crude combo struggled.

Cryptocurrencies have been bouncing quite stunningly as of late, breaching many of their prior resistances – and the best sign for aficionados is that altcoins are actually leading the move.

If Bitcoin extends above $76,000, the technical outlook will be firmly better for Cryptos.

Check out our latest Crypto analysis right here!

As you can see, today really saw a broad appreciation from Greenback struggles, with Antipodeans really outperforming their peers.

Regional hikes and hawkish communications are helping their case, particularly when Oil flows may start to take a turn for the better.

The overnight to tomorrow sessions will be showing the thinnest action ahead of an even larger week ahead.

The major event will be happening tonight, with the RBA meeting going through. A 25 bps back to 4.1% is expected – Check out our preview for the event right here.

Keep a close eye on sentiment and Middle East news.

Safe Trades!

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