Forex news from the European morning session - 10 October 2019
Headlines:
- Dollar continues to soften as US-China trade talks loom
- BOE's Carney: Today's data is consistent with picture of soft underlying growth
- Houston Rockets unfeatured on Nike's Chinese website
- UK August GDP -0.1% vs 0.0% m/m expected
- Germany August trade balance €16.2 billion vs €18.8 billion expected
- ECB's Rehn: Recent split in central bank decision-making has some effect on policy
Markets:
- AUD leads, USD lags on the day
- European equities mixed; E-minis down 0.1%
- US 10-year yields up 0.5 bps to 1.588%
- Gold up 0.1% to $1,507.57
- WTI up 0.3% to $52.75
- Bitcoin down 0.5% to $8,544
It has been a session bereft of major headlines following a more frantic start in Asia Pacific trading. Markets are still settling down as the key focus stays on US-China trade talks with risk sentiment displaying more cautiously optimistic tones.
As a result, the likes of the dollar, yen and gold were relatively weak in the European morning with the former notably slipping across the board.
It comes amid early pressure after the Chinese yuan strengthened against the greenback on a report of a possible currency pact to be involved in the partial trade deal.
The dollar lost further ground in the session as EUR/USD hit two-week highs, moving from 1.0990 to 1.1030. Meanwhile, GBP/USD also climbed to test key near-term resistance from 1.2220 to 1.2250-60 levels currently.
The aussie and kiwi held firm amid some hope of a compromise between US and China on trade with AUD/USD rising from 0.6740 to 0.6760 levels while NZD/USD climbed from 0.6310 to 0.6320-30 levels at the moment.
Looking ahead, markets are still waiting with bated breath on the outcome of trade talks as we're not even sure if talks will continue on until tomorrow at this stage.
Besides that, US CPI data for September is also due at 1230 GMT so that will add some spice into markets as the spotlight continues to shine on Washington.
