Forex news from the European trading session - 8 February 2018
Economic data:
- Spain December industrial production y/y +6.1% vs +3.9% expected
- China preliminary Q4 current account surplus USD 62.2bn
- Bank of France January industry sentiment indicator 105 vs 110 expected
- Germany December trade balance +EUR 18.2bn vs +EUR 21.0 bn expected
- Japan's January economy watchers data comes in lower
Central Bank / Government:
- Praet says net asset purchases will expire when ECB's 3 criteria have been met
- Fed's Kaplan says that best way to continue expansion is to remove accommodation
- More prattle from Praet: ECB looks at a broad range of inflation indicators
- More from RBA's Lowe: Expects inflation to pick up gradually
- Praet says ECB policy will be fully in line with forward guidance
- More from Fed's Kaplan: 3 rate hikes still the base case for 2018
- ECB says risks surrounding the euro area growth outlook are broadly balanced.
- Fed's Kaplan: 2018 will be a strong year for the US economy
- RBA's Lowe: No strong case for near-term adjustment in policy
- Weidmann says substantial extension of ECB QE not justified if growth continues as expected
- French finance minister: Quick formation of German government is good for France
- BOJ's Kuroda: Will continue powerful quantitative easing persistently
- BOJ's Suzuki sees no need for additional monetary easing now
Cryptocurrencies:
- The Bitcoin Crossroads: Should I Trade or Should I Hodl?
- ECB's Mersch says that virtual currencies are not money
- Mersch says ECB fully in line with BIS and other central banks on cryptocurrency concerns
- Qatar central bank warns banking institutions not to trade Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies
Others:
- FX option expiries for the 15.00 GMT cut - 8 Feb 2018
- Goldman Sachs boosts gold price forecast, sees $1,450/oz in 12 months
- Reuters poll shows that investors are cutting bullish bets on most Asian currencies
- Nikkei 225 closes up by 1.13% at 21,890.86
There wasn't all too much happening the FX space, as the mixed theme early in the Asian session developed into broad dollar strength. Investors in Europe are trying to weigh the effects of higher yields, and one of it seems to be a favourable return to the greenback - at least for now.
On the equities front, Asian equities performed rather decently but once again Chinese stocks slumped and European stocks are growing worser as the day goes by as well. The German DAX is now down by 1.3% and Eurostoxx index is down by 1.1%, near the lows for the day.
Sentiment remains fragile and safe haven currencies caught a bid early on, but eventually remain mixed alongside other major currencies as we head into European mid-day.
The more notable action point was in sterling, where we saw a tale of two halves for the GBP. It started off on a softer note, with cable falling to a low of 1.3846 as the dollar gained strength during the session, but as we head into the BOE decision in the next 15 minutes or so, sterling is looking rather perky and cable climbed to a high of 1.3901 - with expectations of an upgrade towards growth forecasts being one of the reasons.
Good two-way action still to be had overall, so let's see what US markets will bring later on in the day.