New York Open Briefing: Wednesday, July 22, 2026

The New York session opens with a mixed global equity picture, following a -1.81% decline in the JP225 and a +1.22% rise in the UK100. US equity futures, USTEC and US500, are both lower by -0.62% and -0.28% respectively. Gold, XAUUSD, is down -0.20%, contributing to a slight risk-off tone indicated by the risk meter at -0.15. The US Dollar shows strength, up +0.27% over 24 hours.

Earlier releases saw significant data from South Africa and the UK. South African Retail Sales for the year were 2.3%, exceeding consensus of 2.2%. Monthly Retail Sales were 0.1%, above the -0.2% consensus. Core CPI year over year registered 4.1%, slightly above the 4% consensus, while monthly Core CPI was 0.6%, higher than the 0.2% consensus. Headline CPI year over year came in at 5%, notably higher than the 3.6% consensus. In the UK, House Price Index year over year was 2.7%, significantly above the 0.5% consensus.

Looking ahead, the US session features several key events. At 14:30 UTC, the EIA Crude Oil Stocks Change is due, with consensus at 1.978M, alongside EIA Cushing Crude Oil Stocks Change. A 20-Year Bond Auction is scheduled for 17:00 UTC. Later, at 19:00 UTC, President Trump Speaks. Overnight into Thursday, Australian employment data will be released, including the Unemployment Rate and Australia Employment Change at 01:30 UTC. Retail books show disagreement on USDCAD by 21 points and on AUDUSD by 20 points.

Traders will be monitoring the EIA Crude Oil Stocks Change release this afternoon.

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.