S&P500

The US market came to a halt ahead of the Fed meeting.

On Monday, the major US indices were down by the end of the day. The Dow was down by 0.9%, the NASDAQ fell by 1.4%, and the S&P500 dropped by 0.9%.

Asian markets declined on Tuesday, following the US market. Japan's stock indices plunged by 0.6%, while China's indices

dropped by 0.5%.

Oil fell by $1.5 yesterday along with stock indices on fears of tough Fed statements and a new market decline. Brent crude reached $74.40 on Tuesday.

The number of coronavirus cases worldwide keeps rising. On Wednesday, there were 472,000 new cases around the world. In the US, there were 95,000 cases. The UK and Germany reported +55,000 and +28,000 new infections respectively. On Monday, markets were positive about the WHO's announcement that the new omicron strain is less dangerous than delta. However, yesterday it was reported that at least one person had already died from omicron in the UK. Obviously, the statistics in South Africa will be very different from Europe, as South Africa has a very small percentage of people over 50 and a larger number of young people.

The S&P 500 is trading at 4,669. It remains in the range of 4,640-4,700.

Time magazine has named CEO of Tesla and SpaceX Elon Musk as Person of the Year. In the US, there is little news on the market right now. The main issues are the damage after the tornado that killed 88 people and the $2 billion fine to UBS bank for tax law violations in France. Major US hospitals are refusing to vaccinate their staff. This is a forced measure as there is a severe shortage of staff. Facebook shareholders are demanding more control over content filtering as pressure from authorities on the social networking site increases with requests to ban certain content around the world.

Markets are awaiting Fed's decisions and response to the new rise in US inflation. It rose by 6.8% year-on-year in November, a report showed on Friday.

USDX is trading at 96.35 and is expected to be in the 96.00–97.00 range. The dollar index rose slightly. However, it remains in a narrow range ahead of the Fed meeting.

USDCAD is trading at 1.2815 and is expected to be in the 1.2760–1.2860 range. The pair gained 100 points yesterday while the dollar strengthened and oil declined markedly. In case of a tough Fed statement on Wednesday, the pair will continue to rise to 1.2900-1.3000.

Markets are waiting for the Fed meeting. We expect a tough Fed stance and possibly a strong correction in the stock market.