The news shaping the markets today

Ukraine said it had recaptured more than 20 settlements over the past 24 hours in its counteroffensive efforts against Russian forces. The US dollar index traded slightly lower on the news.

Japan’s producer prices climbed by 9.0% year-over-year in August, versus expectations of 8.9%. Although the country recorded producer inflation for the 18th month in a row, the latest reading was the softest since December 2021 and provided some support to the JPY/USD forex pair.

New Zealand’s food price inflation surged 8.3% year-over-year in August, following a 7.4% increase in the previous month, which sent the NZD/USD pair lower in forex trading this morning.

Australia’s Westpac-Melbourne Institute Index of consumer sentiment rose by 3.9% in September, compared to a 3% decline in the previous month. Although the country’s consumer sentiment improved for the first time since November 2021, the AUD/USD forex pair remained under pressure.

Thailand’s consumer confidence index rose to a seven-month high of 43.7 in August, from 42.4 in the previous month, sending the THB/USD pair slightly higher in forex trading this morning.

What’s happening: Shares of Oracle Corporation edged higher in after-hours trading on Monday, after the company released results for its first fiscal quarter.

What happened: Oracle posted in-line sales for the quarter, generating a healthy financial contribution from its recently acquired medical records firm Cerner.

However, the Austin, Texas-based company failed to meet earnings estimates mainly due to currency fluctuations.

How were the results: The database software giant reported growth in sales for the first quarter.

• Total revenues climbed 17.7% to $11.45 billion, in line with market expectations.
• Adjusted profits came in at $1.03 per share, missing the consensus estimate of $1.07 per share. The company said currency fluctuations adversely impacted its quarterly earnings by 8 cents per share.

Why it matters: Oracle closed its agreement to acquire health IT firm Cerner in June and has already started gaining from the deal.

The company reported strong demand for cloud services, which boosted the segment’s revenues by 45% to $3.6 billion. The figure included a contribution of $1.4 billion from Cerner.

“As our cloud businesses become a larger-and-larger percentage of our overall business, we expect our constant currency organic revenue growth rate to hit double-digits with a corresponding increase in earnings per share. Cerner will also positively impact revenue and earnings per share growth in the coming quarters as we fully integrate Cerner into Oracle and benefit from the resulting cost efficiencies,” CEO Safra Catz said during the earnings call.

Sales from the Fusion application for managing corporate finances climbed 33%, while revenues from NetSuite’s enterprise planning tools jumped 27%.

The company’s board declared a quarterly dividend of 32 cents per share.

Management projected revenue growth between 21% and 23% for the current quarter. However, the company guided to a decline of 1% to 5% in non-GAAP earnings.

How shares responded: Oracle’s shares rose 1.4% to $78.15 during the extended trading session on Monday, following the release of quarterly results. The stock has lost around 12% year to date.

What to watch: Markets will keep an eye on Oracle’s cloud offerings, which the company is looking to expand to compete with bigger peers like Microsoft and Amazon.com.

The markets today

The US dollar will be in focus today ahead of inflation data

Context: The greenback moved lower on Monday after recording sharp gains last week.

Details: The US dollar index, which measures the greenback’s performance versus a basket of major currencies, fell to its weakest level in around two weeks on Monday. Investors remained on the sidelines ahead of the release of inflation data, which will impact the US Federal Reserve’s next interest rate decision.

The US dollar index declined by around 0.6% to settle at 108.33 on Monday, after jumping to a two-decade high of 110.79 on Wednesday last week.

Markets widely expect the Fed to raise its benchmark rate by 75 basis points at its September policy meeting, following hawkish remarks from the central bank’s Chairman Jerome Powell and other bank officials.

The EUR/USD forex pair jumped to its most substantial level since August 17, with ECB officials looking to tighten their monetary policy more aggressively. The shared currency had fallen to a 20-year low of $0.9862 last week. The euro gained over 0.7% to close at $1.0122 on Monday.

The GBP/USD forex pair also recorded gains, following economic data from the UK. The British economy grew by 0.2% in July, versus a 0.6% decline a month ago, while the country’s trade deficit contracted to £7.8 billion in July, from £11.4 billion in June.

The pound rose around 0.8% to settle at $1.1683 on Monday, after hitting a 37-year low last week.

What to watch: Traders await the release of economic data on the US’s inflation rate and government budget today. The annual inflation rate in the US, which slowed more than expected to 8.5% in July, is expected to ease further to 8.1% in August. Analysts expect consumer prices to decline 0.2% in August. The US government budget deficit is projected to widen to $250 billion in August, from $211 billion in July.

Other Markets: European trading indices closed higher on Monday, with the FTSE 100, DAX 40, CAC 40 and STOXX Europe 600 up by 1.66%, 2.40%, 1.95% and 1.76%, respectively.

Support & resistances for today

Market snapshot

What else to watch today

Germany’s inflation rate, ZEW Indicator of economic sentiment and ZEW current conditions subindex, UK’s unemployment rate, Claimant count change, employment change and average weekly earnings, Switzerland’s producer and import prices, Spain’s inflation rate, Turkey’s industrial production and retail sales, Czech Republic’s current account, Eurozone’s ZEW economic sentiment index, South Africa’s gold production and mining production, Romania’s current account, US NFIB small business optimism index, IBD/TIPP economic optimism index, and API crude oil stocks, as well as Poland’s balance of trade and current account.