The Weekly Edge: Week-Ahead & Look-Back, Mon 27 – Fri 31 Jul 2026

Welcome to this week's edition of The Weekly Edge: our look-back at the trading week just gone (Mon 27 to Fri 31 July 2026) and the week ahead (Mon 3 to Fri 7 August 2026).

Look-back highlights

• Dollar: DXY down about 1.65% to 99.8. The Fed held at 3.50% to 3.75% but did not out-hawk expectations, and month-end flows added to the slide.
• FX: EUR/USD +1.4% (back above 1.15) and GBP/USD +1.2%; the yen was the standout, with USD/JPY down close to 3.9% as the Bank of Japan held at 1.00%.
• Equities: Hong Kong led (Hang Seng +3.7%), Europe firm (DAX +2.1%, CAC +1.6%), and the S&P 500 and Dow each added about 1%; the Nikkei slipped 0.4%.
• Commodities: WTI crude down about 5.2% to the mid-$80s; gold little changed near $4,050; silver softer.
• Central banks: the Fed, ECB and RBA lean hawkish amid the energy-driven inflation shock, while the BoE (3.75%), BoJ (1.00%) and BoC (2.25%) are on hold.

The week ahead (3 to 7 August)

A labour-market week with no G10 rate decision inside it. The data builds from ISM Manufacturing on Monday, through ADP and ISM Services on Wednesday, to the marquee US July jobs report on Friday at 13:30 BST: the last major payrolls read before the Fed's September meeting. Overall bias: mildly pro-risk with a soft-dollar lean, but low conviction into Friday.

Download the full report (PDF)

Educational only, not financial advice.