London Open Briefing: Thursday, July 16, 2026

The London trading session opens with a mixed handover from Asia. The JP225 declined by -1.58%, and XAUUSD fell -0.85%. European indices also showed weakness, with DE40 down -0.29% and UK100 down -0.22%. USDCHF, however, saw a gain of +0.13%. The overall risk meter stands at +0.12, indicating a slightly risk-on sentiment despite the equity declines.

Overnight, Sweden’s Registered Unemployment Rate came in at 6.4%, better than the 6.6% consensus. The Bank of Korea announced its Interest Rate Decision at 2.75%. Japan reported significant capital flows, with Foreign Investment in Japan Stocks at 745.6B and Foreign Bond Investment at 1090.1B. Looking ahead, the Eurozone’s Trade Balance and Trade Balance n.s.a. are due at 09:00 UTC, with consensus figures of 8.4B and 6.3B respectively. Canada’s CMHC Housing Starts are expected at 12:15 UTC, with a consensus of 259.178K.

Later in the session, at 12:30 UTC, the US calendar features several medium to high impact releases. These include the Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index, with a consensus of 10.3, Continuing Jobless Claims at a consensus of 1.831M, and Retail Sales m/m, with expectations for 0.2%. In currency strength over the last 24 hours, GBP leads with +0.65%, followed by NZD at +0.40%, while USD is down -0.39% and JPY is down -0.33%. Retail positioning data shows the crowd shift on EURUSD moving 9pt toward short, and on XAUUSD moving 8pt toward long. Retail books also show a 21 point disagreement on both EURJPY and NZDUSD.

Traders will likely focus on the Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index for further directional cues.

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.