{"id":428674,"date":"2026-03-18T18:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T11:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/market-news\/2026\/03\/investinglive-european-markets-wrap-tentative-mood-with-eyes-on-middle-east-fomc-meeting\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T18:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T11:50:10","slug":"investinglive-european-markets-wrap-tentative-mood-with-eyes-on-middle-east-fomc-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/market-news\/investinglive-european-markets-wrap-tentative-mood-with-eyes-on-middle-east-fomc-meeting-428674\/","title":{"rendered":"investingLive European markets wrap: Tentative mood with eyes on Middle East, FOMC meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Headlines:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/investinglive.com\/commodities\/oil-price-surge-sees-momentum-being-tested-are-markets-too-complacent-20260318\/\">Oil price surge sees momentum being tested, are markets too complacent?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/investinglive.com\/commodities\/iraq-turkey-pipeline-itp-to-resume-at-a-rate-of-250000-barrels-to-start-with-20260318\/\">Iraq-Turkey Pipeline (ITP) to resume at a rate of 250,000 barrels to start with<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/investinglive.com\/stocks\/equities-continue-to-put-up-a-strong-front-this-week-at-least-for-now-20260318\/\">Equities continue to put up a strong front this week, at least for now<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/investinglive.com\/centralbank\/fed-preview-the-central-bank-will-avoid-scaring-markets-and-keep-the-status-quo-20260318\/\">Fed preview: the central bank will avoid scaring markets and keep the status quo<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/investinglive.com\/centralbank\/boc-preview-interest-rates-to-remain-unchanged-cautious-approach-amid-us-iran-war-20260318\/\">BoC preview: interest rates to remain unchanged; cautious approach amid US-Iran war<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/investinglive.com\/centralbank\/boj-preview-no-changes-expected-amid-lack-of-inflation-progress-and-geopolitical-risk-20260318\/\">BoJ preview: no changes expected amid lack of inflation progress and geopolitical risk<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/investinglive.com\/news\/eurozone-february-final-cpi-19-vs-19-yy-prelim-20260318\/\">Eurozone February final CPI +1.9% vs +1.9% y\/y prelim<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Markets:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>WTI crude oil down 0.7% to $95.30<\/li>\n<li>USD and major FX little changed<\/li>\n<li>European indices sit higher but early gains reduced, S&amp;P 500 futures up 0.3%<\/li>\n<li>US 10-year yields down 1.3 bps to 4.19%<\/li>\n<li>Gold drops down 1.1% to $4,950<\/li>\n<li>Bitcoin down 2.0% to $73,036<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"text-align-justify\">It was a more tentative session as markets continue to wait on further developments from the Middle East.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-align-justify\">The Strait of Hormuz remains shut for business and the only positive news for energy markets was that we did see a major breakthrough with the reopening of the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline (ITP). That being said, it is a mere drop in the bucket of water in terms of compensating for the loss of oil exports from the Hormuz blockade. But at least for now, Iraq has a tiny outlet to make up for loss of over 3 million barrels per day in exports. The opening level for the pipeline is 250,000 barrels per day for now.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-align-justify\">Oil prices were not too volatile, with lesser headlines involving Iran attacks as well. However, traders remain guarded overall still. WTI crude oil is down 0.7% to $95.30 but off early lows of $91.45 seen in Asia trading at least.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-align-justify\">In other markets, stocks continue to stay in search of a brighter outlook this week. European indices are sitting higher but have reduced gains during the session, the same for US futures. The DAX is up 0.5% currently but was up around 0.9% earlier in the day. Meanwhile, S&amp;P 500 futures were up as much as 0.6% but have halved gains to 0.3% now.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-align-justify\">While the main focus stays on the Middle East, just be reminded that there is also the FOMC meeting to come later today.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-align-justify\">With that, major currencies also remain guarded with light changes all around. The dollar is looking rather tepid and lacking direction during the session. EUR\/USD is flat at 1.1537 with USD\/JPY also flat now at 159.05 after a brief trip lower to 158.65 earlier in the day.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-align-justify\">Elsewhere, precious metals are looking softer with gold down 1.1% to $4,950 and silver down 0.8% to $78.63 on the day. In the bond market, 10-year Treasury yields continue to retreat on the week with yields down 1.3 bps to 4.19% at the moment.<\/p>\n<p>                            This article was written by Justin Low at investinglive.com.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Headlines: Oil price surge sees momentum being tested, are markets too complacent? Iraq-Turkey Pipeline (ITP) to resume at a rate of 250,000 barrels to start with Equities continue to put up a&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":216,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-428674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-market-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/216"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428674\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}