Forex news from the European morning session - 11 March 2019

Headlines:

Markets:

  • EUR leads, CHF lags on the day
  • European equities a little higher; E-minis up 0.1%
  • US 10-year yields up 2 bps to 2.65%
  • Gold down 0.3% to $1,294.90
  • WTI up 0.7% to $56.45
  • Bitcoin down 0.1% to $3,864
EOD 11-03

It's a morning devoured by Brexit headlines as we get closer towards a meaningful - possibly now provisional - vote on May's Brexit deal tomorrow. The pound began the session on the back foot and experienced some see-saw price action as headlines trickled in.

Cable rose to 1.3010 from 1.2980-90 levels earlier on before slipping back to 1.2970 as May is said to be planning to change tomorrow's vote from a meaningful one to a provisional one instead.

The pound then recovered further ground on hopes that parliament is still seen wrestling some control back from the government via votes on Wednesday and Thursday. That saw cable come back up to 1.3010 before falling back to 1.2990 and now returning back above the 1.3000 handle as the government insists that they will hold a meaningful vote tomorrow.

Other major currencies had a more subdued session with little direction to really work with. US equity futures were mostly flat and European stocks are mainly playing catch up to Friday's price action.

That didn't help USD/JPY as the pair moved between 111.10-20 levels throughout the European morning. EUR/USD stayed a little underpinned but sits around flat levels at 1.1240-50 and even commodity currencies are barely changed on the day, stuck around a 20+ pips range against the dollar.

Looking ahead, US retail sales will be the main highlight in North American trading and that's due at 1230 GMT. Aside from that, be on the look out for May's written statement and the UK government's Brexit motion as that will be the next catalyst for pound movement today.