Euro area services PMI for July in focus to start the new week
Good day, everyone! Hope you're all doing well as we get things going here on the session. It's been a lively start to the day with the negative developments in US-China trade talks weighing on markets, prompting heavy risk-off flows.
Bonds are rallying, equities are falling off, and in the currencies space we're seeing the yen and franc gain while commodity currencies lag.
Looking ahead, we'll have a couple of releases to move things along in the European session but trading sentiment is still likely to be dominated by the haven and safety flows today - unless something changes on the US-China trade rhetoric.
0545 GMT - Switzerland July SECO consumer confidence
Prior release can be found here. The reading measures the level of consumer confidence in economic activity. A level above zero indicates optimism; below indicates pessimism. General indication of economic sentiment in Switzerland. A minor data point.
0630 GMT - Switzerland June retail sales data
Prior release can be found here. A gauge of consumption activity in the Swiss economy, not a major release by any means.
0715 GMT - Spain July services, composite PMI
0745 GMT - Italy July services, composite PMI
0750 GMT - France July final services, composite PMI
0755 GMT - Germany July final services, composite PMI
0800 GMT - Eurozone July final services, composite PMI
Having seen preliminary figures for France, Germany and Eurozone still holding up somewhat, the risk of spillover effects from manufacturing isn't as profound just yet. As such, the releases here should just reaffirm what we already know and we'll have to see if there will be any further slump in the coming months that may lead to a more profound slowdown in the euro area economy in Q3 and Q4.
0800 GMT - SNB total sight deposits w.e. 2 August
Your weekly check of the deposits kept at the SNB by Swiss banks. This data is a proxy for FX interventions. There was chatter about last week's release possibly hinting at SNB intervention, though the central bank has declined to comment on it. Let's see if we'll see more consistency in the data to suggest more potential showing in markets by the central bank as EUR/CHF continues its track further below 1.10.
0830 GMT - Eurozone August Sentix investor confidence survey
Prior release can be found here. Investor morale in Germany continues to decline as the economy is in a torrid state right now and the latest survey reading here is expected to continue highlighting such sentiment. Not a major release though.
0830 GMT - UK July services PMI
Prior release can be found here. Brexit, Brexit, Brexit. That remains the main story plaguing the UK economy and the services sector is expected to hold near stagnation once more with the overall composite reading expected to show a contraction in the UK economy for a second month in a row. The string of poor data will just exacerbate Brexit worries in the UK and continue to add to soggy sentiment for the pound in the bigger picture.
That's all for the session ahead. I wish you all the best of days to come and good luck with your trading!
