With OPEC+ meeting later this week, oil prices are looking more buoyed to start the new week after the rebound on Friday.

The breakdown last week threatened to turn the technical picture to be even uglier but dip buyers stepped back in to at least salvage the situation at the weekly close. Now, WTI crude is up to $111.40 – its highest level since 17 June.

There are a couple of headlines that has been stirring the oil market as of late:

• US EIA says no data coming today on US inventories
• Looks like US oil inventory data is going to be delayed again this week
• Ecuador says its oil output may stop completely in 48 hours
• G7 moving closer to a U-turn on the vow to end fossil-fuel financing
• Macron overheard at G7: Saudi Arabia and UAE barely have any spare oil capacity
• UAE tries to spin the report that it’s maxed out of spare capacity

And all of that just adds to the narrative that OPEC+ is almost certainly going to keep the status quo later in the week.

The takeaway from the headlines is arguably that the market remains rather tight and the worst-case scenario, or should I say extremely bullish scenario, is that Saudi Arabia and the UAE are really tapped out. The sense of the word appeals differently to different people in the market but if that’s the only thing that they will offer up, it is the only bit of information that market players can work with.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.

• Visitors to Macau casinos are expected to rise and Las Vegas Sands (stock ticker: LVS) presents a very interesting reward vs risk opportunity for the long term buyer
• LVS stock seems to be rising from the bottom of a range going back to 2015
• This stock buying opportunity is worth a consideration, especially in light of the possibility that the chinese stock market may have already bottomed for this year
• Other casino related stocks may present an opportunity to buy
• Watch the following technical analysis video for LVS stock

Remember: “You’ll always miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky

So should you take the shot with Las Vegas Sands or other casino stocks, in light of the Chinese COVID easing? That’s up to you, as always, trade at your own risk.

Follow ForexLive.com as we present indices or stocks to consider buying and other interesting technical analysis supported opportunities.

This article was written by ForexLive at www.forexlive.com.

It’s looking like buyers are poised to push towards a retest of last week’s high around 136.70 as the yen slips again in trading this week. The better risk mood and higher Treasury yields are underpinning the pair, with a climb from around 135.30 in Asia trading to 135.95 at the moment.

Nothing has really changed in the big picture outlook for the pair as policy divergence continues to play a fundamental role in driving price action higher since the break of 120.00 in March. The fact that the BOJ is still refusing to throw in the towel on easy policy will just continue to keep the pressure on the yen in general.

And higher bond yields will not help with that as they continue to throw the kitchen sink at trying to defend their yield curve control policy.

One threat to a further jump in USD/JPY is that if the bond market doesn’t play ball and that would require a repricing of the Fed’s policy outlook. While the terminal rate pricing has come down, policymakers aren’t shying away from rate hikes yet and that should be enough to also keep the selling pressure on bonds.

The other big threat will be risk of intervention by Japanese authorities but again, that isn’t likely until we get to 140.00 or perhaps even higher, with the velocity of the climb likely to be the more important factor instead.

Looking at other yen pairs, it is still very much sunny skies for CHF/JPY as it breaches 142.00 today.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.

Yeah, that’s pretty much all they can do at this point with the communique set to add that: „We invite all like-minded countries to consider joining us in our actions“.

I’m guessing that will not include India or China then.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.

• ECB should avoid hard triggers based on spreads for anti-fragmentation tool
• Comfortable with a 50 bps rate hike in September
• 200 bps worth of rate hikes are needed „relatively fast“
• Inflation is at risk of moving to a higher regime

In case you missed it, the ECB is pretty much likely to go with a „QE but not QE“ option though there will be controversy surely when it is all about backstopping Italy at the expense of others.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.

Headlines:

• Calmer risk tones prevail to start the new week so far
• ECB changes publication time of monetary policy decisions and press conferences
• Central bank speakers in focus this week
• Heads up: OPEC+ meeting later this week
• G7 still working on precise mechanism to implement price cap on Russian oil – US official
• PBOC says monetary policy will remain accommodative to support economic recovery

Markets:

• EUR leads, AUD lags on the day
• European equities higher; S&P 500 futures up 0.4%
• US 10-year yields up 5.5 bps to 3.179%
• Gold up 0.5% to $1,834.32
• WTI crude up 0.4% to $108.00
• Bitcoin up 0.5% to $21,308

It was a quiet session for the most part as we kick start the new week. Markets are settling in with risk tones mostly calmer and leaning slightly more positive. Equities are holding higher alongside bond yields, though there wasn’t much significant action in FX.

The yen was a notable mover though as it climbed down to 134.70 in Asia trading before rising back to 135.45 currently amid the better risk tones. The dollar is trading more mixed with EUR/USD holding just a touch higher at 1.0565, up 0.1% on the day, while GBP/USD initially swung higher from 1.2270 to 1.2330 only to fall to 1.2255 during the session.

The aussie and kiwi are the laggards despite the better risk sentiment with AUD/USD down 0.4% to 0.6920 and NZD/USD down 0.3% to 0.6295, at the lows for the day currently.

As much as there is better risk appetite, it is still tough to bet against the dollar in the big picture as long as the Fed continues to talk up a big game in hiking rates. But at least with money markets seeing the potential for lower terminal rates, stocks are able to find some added relief for the time being.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.

ForexLive.com brings you technical analysis videos to make sense of where the Russell 2000 seems to be going, and presents possible trade ideas, including entry price, take profit targets and stop losses, for you to consider. Visit this page as more technical analyses are being published!

Trade the Russell 2000 at your own risk.

This article was written by ForexLive at www.forexlive.com.

• Inflation outlook is stable in China
• Real interest rates are pretty low considering inflation

Some token remarks as the Chinese central bank is reaffirming that they will continue to do their job to align with the government’s policies on COVID-19 and the economy in general.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.

OPEC+ last met earlier this month on 2 June, where they decided to increase output by 648k bpd in July, up from the initial plan of 432k bpd. They are expected to carry that policy stance into August later this week when they meet on 30 June. That is despite the fact that US president Biden will be heading to Riyadh next month – where he is supposedly going to discuss on ‚energy security‘.

Just be wary that the current oil output deal is set to expire in September and even now, they are already struggling to lift output further amid the lack of spare capacity. That is something to take note of when weighing up the tightness in the oil market in general.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.

A $400 million rug-pull on MonkeyPoxInu. The
honeypots… and the pump-and-dumps.

DeFi problems (to put it bluntly) are becoming larger in scope and more
frequent in nature, as shown in the chart below which you can view on Comparitech:

Throughout all of it, though, most participants in DeFi would probably
agree that there’s been far more talk than action. 

It’s time to stop keeping score
and start making plays.

If you’re old enough to remember the “I’m a Mac / And I’m a PC”
television commercials that ran beginning in 2006, you’ll likely recall the one
that implied that Mac computers didn’t get viruses.

The dirty little secret? Macs were
vulnerable to viruses, but Apple’s share of the personal computer marketplace
was so low in 2006 (just 4.8%) that it wasn’t worth the effort to
exploit them.

Today, we know differently.

And the point is that talk is cheap.

When we first conceived of the idea that led to the Bridges Exchange, we did so with a view
towards helping clean up the “Wild West” nature of DeFi. In fact, Bridges is a
first of its kind (although we hope—not the last): it is the first anti-scam,
dividend-paying, decentralized hybrid exchange-aggregator.

We created the Bridges Exchange because “business as usual” in DeFi has meant
nothing more than the proliferation of tokens—and with them—theft. Like others, we’ve grown tired of
seeing honest investors left penniless and innovative developers whose ideas
are copied at will. For DeFi to realize its full potential, it has to evolve
from being a safe haven for scammers to becoming an ecosystem where every
participant has a legitimate chance for financial freedom and security.

Here’s how we did it:

Public
Listing Criteria: To get
good projects in, we have to keep bad actors out. Bridges has fairly stringent project listing criteria, and
they’re publicly available for all to see.

Thorough
Vetting Procedures: The
time from application to listing can take several weeks which, while long,
is simply a necessary evil. The reputation of Bridges is only as good as
the last project that we approved for listing, and while we can’t
guarantee positive returns or even complete, 100% safety, we do promise
that our vetting procedures are carefully and thoroughly implemented.

Requirement
of Innovation: Safety
means different things for different people. For holders, it means the
avoidance of scams, but if you’re the project developer, it means the
protection of innovative ideas. We require that approved projects bring
some form of innovation to the space, and we reject those that are pure
copycats of others’ ideas.  

Anti-Whale
Caps: To promote overall
stability in the price of Bridge$, the native token of our Exchange,
anti-whale caps prevent any single investor from holding more than 1% of
the total supply, equal to 1 million tokens.

Regardless of whether you’re a holder or a developer, a novice
participant in DeFi or a seasoned veteran, we invite you to join the mission that Bridges represents and to be part
of the action—and not the talk—about cleaning up DeFi.

You can learn more about the work of Bridges at https://bridges.exchange.

This article was written by ForexLive at www.forexlive.com.