European open: Little data means UD debt ceiling will continue to dominate

FXstreet.com (London) - Heading into this week, US debt ceiling worries continue to dominate, with little progress made over the weekend in negotiations between Republicans and Democrats to reach a compromise agreement to allow a continuing resolution to pass to the senate.

Japanese stocks tumbled overnight, with the Nikkei losing 0.86 percent. The Hang Seng shed 0.47 percent, with losses across the AsiaPac markets.

USD/JPY strengthened to JPY97.095.

Due to the continuing government shutdown, we will again see a light week in US data, with government statisticians furloughed. Barring a miraculous resolution to the stand-off, the August trade report looks likely to go the way of the Friday NFP, while Sep retail sales and PPI reports due later this week are also under threat.

We will also have a quiet data day in Europe, with only the Sentix numbers for October due. Consensus expectations is for a 2 point rise, after the Eurozone investor confidence index printed positive last month for the first time in two years.

EUR/USD is likely to come under pressure today, with less European political risk on the agenda compared with last week. EUR/USD is trading at USD1.3575.