London Open Briefing: Monday, September 21, 2026

The London session opens with a generally positive tone across equity markets. Asian and European indices saw gains, with the JP225 up 0.69%, the DE40 rising 0.63%, and the UK100 advancing 0.59%. US equity futures also indicated strength, as the USTEC gained 0.52% and the US30 moved up 0.33%. This broad equity strength aligns with a Risk Meter reading of +0.38, suggesting a risk-on sentiment as the trading day begins. Gold, XAUUSD, moved lower by 0.52% in this environment.

The Australian Dollar leads currency strength over the last 24 hours, up 0.17%, followed by the US Dollar, which gained 0.11%. The Euro saw a modest rise of 0.01%, while the Canadian Dollar was the weakest, down 0.18%. Traders will monitor scheduled speeches later today. The BCB Focus Market Report for BRL is due at 11:30 UTC. Later in the afternoon, ECB President Lagarde Speaks at 15:00 UTC, and BOC Gov Macklem Speaks at 15:05 UTC.

In cryptocurrency markets, the crowd’s positioning on BTCUSD shifted from 53% long to 52% short over the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, the book on ETHUSD moved 8 points toward long. Retail books show significant disagreement on some pairs, with a 21-point difference noted on both USDJPY and USDCAD.

The speeches by ECB President Lagarde and BOC Gov Macklem will be key events for market participants to observe.

Scheduled this session (High and Medium impact)

Times are UTC. This brief describes measured market state and the published schedule. It is not financial advice and nothing in it is a trade recommendation.