Forex news from the European morning session - 17 February 2020
Headlines:
- China premier Li Keqiang: Epidemic control has shown active, improving trend
- Bundesbank says it sees no fundamental change in the German economy for Q1
- SNB total sight deposits w.e. 14 February CHF 590.1 bn vs CHF 589.6 bn prior
- China's NHC says that new coronavirus is preventable and treatable
- China reportedly proposes delaying annual NPC meeting
Markets:
- CAD leads, GBP lags on the day
- European equities mildly higher
- Gold down 0.2% to $1,580.90
- WTI flat at $52.07
- Bitcoin down 6.5% to $9,671
It was a rather slow Monday morning in Europe as the market keeps steady in grappling with the coronavirus outbreak situation to start the week.
Chinese authorities kept up stimulus measures and that gave mainland equities a reason to put in a solid shift, which set the tone for more steady trading in Europe today.
USD/JPY is keeping around 109.80-90 with major currencies seeing a bit of mixed tones across the board. The loonie is leading gains as we see USD/CAD ease to fresh two-week lows, nearing its 200-day moving average at 1.3218.
Meanwhile, EUR/GBP is seeing a mild bounce off levels near 0.8300 and that is keeping the pound a little weaker on the session thus far.
There isn't much else of note as the market stays more calm with the anticipation of the closure of US markets today. As such, we could still be in for a more calm but sluggish day ahead in North America but expect things to definitely pick up later in the week.
