Eastern North America has been partially shut down due to a major late winter storm which has grounded thousands of flights. The meeting between President Trump and German Chancellor Merkel in Washington has been postponed from today to Friday due to the weather. So far the two day Fed meeting leading up to tomorrow's interest rate decision is still scheduled to proceed.
Stock markets around the world have been trading flat to slightly lower overnight. U.S. index futures, the Dax and the Nikkei are all down 0.1%, while the FTSE is up 0.1%. WTI crude oil is up 0.7% in a trading bounce. Gold is trading flat while most major currencies are down slightly against USD with one exception. Economic data has generally been disappointing overnight, particularly Chinese retail sales and Eurozone industrial production.
The British pound is tumbling today, losing a big figure to the U.S. dollar and smaller amounts to other majors including the euro. Today, the House of Commons voted down the two amendments the House of Lords had proposed, paving the way for PM May to trigger Article 50 and start Brexit negotiations. Press reports have suggested this could happen by the end of this month but perhaps not this week. Other reports have centered around additional legislation which may be needed and indications that the Prime Minister is likely to say No to a second Scottish Referendum until after Brexit is completed at least (and who knows what the EU will look like by then?)
Due to the weather, U.S. trading could be light today. We may, however see traders start to position ahead of the potentially big developments set for Wednesday and Thursday which include Fed, Bank of Japan and Bank of England meetings, the Netherlands election, the U.S. preliminary budget and end of the debt ceiling deal, more talk around the Obamacare replacement legislation and potentially more.