London Open Briefing: Thursday, October 15, 2026

The London session opens with a notable risk-off sentiment following declines in Asian markets, as the JP225 fell -2.60%. Gold, XAUUSD, advanced +0.89%, while the USTEC was down -0.68%. The UK100 saw a gain of +0.56%. In currency markets, AUDUSD moved -0.50% lower and USDCHF declined -0.49%. The overall market risk meter stands at -0.38 on a -1 risk-off to +1 risk-on scale. Over the past 24 hours, JPY has shown strength at +0.36%, followed by CHF at +0.32% and USD at +0.16%, while AUD was the weakest at -0.88%. Crowd positioning shifts include the book moving 9 points toward long on AUDJPY, 8 points toward long on GBPUSD, and 8 points toward long on EURCHF. On USDJPY, the crowd book flipped from 57% short to 51% long in the last 24 hours.

Ahead in the session, an EU Economic Summit is scheduled for 10:15 UTC. At 12:00 UTC, Brazil’s Retail Sales y/y data is expected, with a consensus of 1.4% following a previous 1.2%. A significant block of high-impact USD data is due at 12:30 UTC, including Core Retail Sales m/m with a consensus of 0.6% against a previous 1.4%, and Retail Sales m/m expected at 0.3% after a previous 1.2%. The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index is also due, with a consensus of 33.5 compared to the previous 37.8. Additionally, Core PPI m/m is anticipated at 0.3% following a previous 0.2%, and PPI m/m at 0.6% after a previous 0.4%. Later, at 16:00 UTC, the EIA Crude Oil Stocks Change is expected at -0.831M, following a previous -3.186M.

Traders will likely focus on the comprehensive set of USD economic releases scheduled for 12:30 UTC.

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.