Forex news from the European trading session - 17 August 2020
Headlines:
- Wilbur Ross: China has been buying large amounts of agricultural products
- China says will not resort to flood-like stimulus, will keep liquidity reasonably ample
- The market is watching and waiting
- SNB total sight deposits w.e. 14 August CHF 698.6 bn vs CHF 695.8 bn prior
- China foreign ministry declines to comment on trade talks review delay
- EU warns banks in the UK they face longer wait for market access after Brexit
Markets:
- JPY leads, NZD lags on the day
- European equities little changed; E-minis up 0.3%
- US 10-year yields down 2 bps to 0.688%
- Gold up 0.5% to $1,954.25
- WTI down 0.1% to $41.95
- Bitcoin up 1.1% to $11,905
It was a largely quiet session with little headlines overall as the market tracked sideways for the most part to kick start the new week.
Equities showed little poise despite China stocks gaining favourably, after the PBOC injected liquidity into the system earlier in Asian trading.
Treasury yields tracked lower though, with 10-year yields seen down by 2 bps to 0.688% and that is helping to keep yen pairs weighed down. USD/JPY eased from 106.50 to 106.27 during the session with the dollar keeping a touch weaker as well.
EUR/USD chopped around, slipping from 1.1868 to 1.1829 before recovering back to 1.1850 levels now. Meanwhile, GBP/USD is continuing its battle around 1.3100 still.
The kiwi continues to stay pressured, continuing the narrative from last week with NZD/USD easing from 0.6540 to 0.6520 levels.
Elsewhere, gold and silver kept a decent advance but not really breaking away from its recent consolidation seen towards the latter stages of last week.
All in all, it's a quiet one as we get the week underway but let's see if North American traders will have more to offer later today.
