U.S. GDP beat expectations and supported the dolla

U.S. GDP expanded at a 2.1% annualised pace in Q2, which exceeded the estimates of 1.8%. The Dollar Index climbed 0.22% higher to the 97.74. Gold prices edged 0.25% higher to 1418.32 and recovered a part of the previous session's sharp intraday slide to over one-week lows. The U.S. benchmarks on Friday ended higher, S&P 500 and DOW 30 figures rose 0.22% to 27161.24 and 0.53% to 3021.62 respectively.

GBPUSD dropped 0.50% and published a low of 1.2382 as Brexit continues to weigh on the Pound's outlook. The EURUSD dropped 0.18% from 1.1146 to 1.1126 on dovish ECB expectations.

The WTI price rose 0.41% to 56.01. The BRENT price increased 0.25% to 63.39. Because the UK increased the number of troops to Bahrain to protect its oil ships in the Gulf after Iran’s seizure of the UK ship extends into the second week. And the Baker Hughes US Oil Rig Counts slip for the fourth consecutive week to 776 which is the lowest since February 2017.

The top US negotiators have been confirmed to meet their Chinese counterparts and resume in-person trade talks on July 30-August 1, which shown modest expectations from the US-China trade negotiations.

With Friday’s key US macro data out of the way, the focus now shifts to this week's key central bank meetings - starting with the BoJ policy update on Tuesday and the highly anticipated Fed decision on Wednesday.

It a big week for markets this week:

US: FOMC Rate Decision (31 July), Top-Tier US data (1, 2 Aug) - ISM Manufacturing (Jul) and Nonfarm Payrolls (Jul).

Canada: Industry-level GDP (31 July)

UK: Bank of England Rate Decision (1 Aug)

Eurozone: July Inflation (31 Jul), HICP (y/y), Core CPI (y/y), Europe (30-31 Jul) Q2 GDP

Australia: Q2 CPI Headline (q/q, y/y) (31 Jul), Trimmed (q/q, y/y) (2 Aug), Retail Sales (Jun/Q2), Retail Sales (m/m), Real Retail (Q2, q/q)

China: July PMIs (31 Jul, 1 Aug)

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