New York Open Briefing: Wednesday, September 16, 2026

The New York session opens with Asian and European equities showing gains, as the JP225 advanced 1.05%, the UK100 rose 0.41%, and the USTEC futures moved 0.39% higher. In the forex space, NZDUSD is up 0.40% and XAUUSD has gained 0.33%, while GBPJPY has declined 0.36%. The overall market tone, as indicated by the Risk Meter, sits at -0.14 on a -1 risk-off to +1 risk-on scale, suggesting a slight risk-off bias. The 24-hour currency strength shows AUD as the strongest, up 0.12%, and GBP as the weakest, down 0.17%. Retail books on XAUUSD show a 23 point disagreement, with the crowd shifting 9pt toward short in the last 24 hours.

Earlier data releases included South African Retail Sales, with the year over year figure at 3.4% and the month over month at 2.5%, both exceeding consensus. From the Eurozone, the Germany 30-Year Bond Auction yielded 3.9%. Eurozone Wage Costs year over year came in at 3%, above the 2.7% consensus, and Industrial Production year over year was 0%, surprising positively against a consensus of -1%. However, Industrial Production month over month registered -0.1%, missing the 0.1% consensus. Looking ahead, ECB Executive Board Member Elderson is scheduled to speak at 13:00 UTC, followed by the EIA Crude Oil Stocks Change at 14:30 UTC, with a consensus of 6.729M.

Later in the session, traders will monitor the ECB President Lagarde Speech at 17:00 UTC. However, the primary focus for the day remains on the series of high-impact USD events, including the FOMC Economic Projections, the FOMC Statement, and the Fed Interest Rate Decision at 18:00 UTC, where the consensus for the rate decision is 4.00%, followed by the FOMC Press Conference at 18:30 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.