Today’s main focus will be the FOMC meeting along with the rate announcement. Also important is the ADP employment report which is directly correlated with NFP on Friday. We don’t expect the Fed to change rates tonight due to the presidential election on November 8th, however, markets will focus as always to the accompanying statement which will reveal whether or not the Fed will raise in December. Markets remain nervous ahead of the elections as polls yesterday revealed that Donald Trump was in the lead. 

Currencies: The Dollar fell and stocks dropped as market entered a new state of nervousness. The latest polling shows that the race is tightening, with one key poll putting Trump ahead. EUR/USD reached a 3 week high (1.1073) and posted a low of 103.60 against the JPY, far from 105.54 reached last week. AUD gave back its gains, following the rate decision yesterday and also dropped 0.40% to 0.7624. The Mexican peso hit a more than three-week low on fears that Trump might win the U.S. presidential election. A Clinton win is generally seen by analysts as likely to be a positive for the dollar.

Stocks: At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones declined 0.58% to hit a new 1-month low, while the S&P 500 index lost 0.68%, and the Nasdaq declined 0.69%. Markets in Asia also fell, with Sydney and Tokyo leading the way amid growing uncertainty about next week’s Presidential election. European shares fell for the 7th straight session.

Oil and Gold: Gold reached a 1-month high at $1294.70 on the back of Dollar weakness, and plummeting stock markets, prompting investors to shift funds to the safe haven yellow metal. Oil settled down ($46.27) after hitting one month lows. Oil reached 15 month highs 2 weeks ago, but has struggled since, as OPEC seems unable to agree between its member states in regards to regulating supply.