{"id":82984,"date":"2026-08-13T17:19:31","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T07:19:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com.au\/blog\/?p=82984"},"modified":"2026-08-13T17:19:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T07:19:32","slug":"general-market-analysis-13-08-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com.au\/blog\/general-market-analysis-13-08-26\/","title":{"rendered":"General Market Analysis \u2013 13\/08\/26"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>US Markets Mixed After CPI Data \u2013 Nasdaq up 0.5%<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>US markets delivered a mixed performance overnight as the latest inflation data came in largely in line with expectations, while renewed tensions in the Middle East continued to weigh on sentiment. The Dow Jones edged 0.04% lower to 53,770, while the S&amp;P 500 gained 0.26% to 7,748. The technology-heavy Nasdaq outperformed once again, rising 0.54% to 26,588 as continued optimism around artificial intelligence provided support for the sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Treasury yields were mixed as traders reassessed the outlook for Federal Reserve policy. The 2-year US Treasury yield fell 1.3 basis points to 4.201% as expectations for a near-term Fed rate hike eased following the latest inflation data, while the benchmark 10-year yield edged 0.5 basis points higher to 4.683% as longer-term inflation and geopolitical risks remained in focus. The US Dollar strengthened modestly, with the US Dollar Index rising 0.14% to 99.97.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Oil prices were relatively subdued despite the latest developments in the Middle East, with traders continuing to assess the potential impact of the ongoing tensions on global energy supplies. Brent crude slipped 0.61% to US$88.37 a barrel, while WTI edged 0.08% higher to US$83.27. Any further deterioration in relations or disruption across key shipping routes could quickly put renewed upward pressure on energy prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gold continued to benefit from the uncertain geopolitical backdrop and softer expectations for near-term Fed tightening, gaining 0.92% to US$4,407.06 an ounce. The precious metal is now pushing back towards key resistance levels, with traders likely to be watching closely for a potential break higher if geopolitical tensions continue to escalate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Pound in Focus for FX Markets Today<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sterling is holding close to its strongest levels in a month against the US dollar, with GBPUSD trading around $1.3500 after reaching $1.3541 earlier in the week. The pound has continued to benefit from relatively resilient UK economic data and elevated UK gilt yields, with markets still reluctant to completely rule out further Bank of England rate hikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, the outlook for Sterling remains finely balanced. UK government bond yields are sitting near their highest levels in almost two decades as investors continue to demand a higher premium to compensate for ongoing inflation and fiscal uncertainty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today\u2019s big data drop early in the London session could spur the pound to fresh highs, with the GDP data the most closely watched figure, and if the quarterly number prints any higher than the expected +0.4%, then sterling should rise both against the dollar and on the crosses to break into fresh topside ranges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Busy Calendar Day Likely to be Overshadowed by Geopolitics<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The macroeconomic calendar has its busiest schedule of the week today, with important releases across all three trading sessions. New Zealand inflation expectations (exp 2.53%) will provide the main focus during the Asian session before UK GDP (exp 0% m\/m, +0.4% q\/q) takes centre stage in a big data drop out of the UK early in the European session. The New York session sees the second big inflation update of the week out of the US shortly after the open, with the PPI data (exp +0.2% m\/m, Core +0.3% m\/m) released alongside the usual Weekly Unemployment Claims (exp 202k). While the data has the potential to generate some volatility, geopolitical developments are again expected to remain a major driver of market sentiment, particularly across the oil, gold and FX markets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US Markets Mixed After CPI Data \u2013 Nasdaq up 0.5% US [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":82985,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[463],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-market-analysis"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82984"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82986,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82984\/revisions\/82986"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}