Forex news from the European trading session - 17 July 2020
Headlines:
- BOE's Bailey: Financial markets indicate interest rates will stay very low
- UK PM Johnson: We can now control the virus through targeted local lockdowns
- Austria's Kurz: Hope we'll get a solution this summit but if not, then at the next one
- ECB's de Guindos: Strategy review will start in September, last about a year
- Eurozone June final CPI +0.3% vs +0.3% y/y prelim
- Eurozone May construction output +27.9% vs -14.6% m/m prior
- Economists see Eurozone GDP contracting by 8.3% this year - ECB survey
- Dutch PM Rutte: Chances of a deal this weekend are less than 50%
- Wuhan and other Chinese provinces declare red alert as floods disrupt supply chains
- Tokyo reportedly finds a record of 293 new coronavirus cases in latest update
- China flags further economic stimulus measures, aiming to boost consumption
Markets:
- CHF leads, JPY lags on the day
- European equities mixed; E-minis up 0.4%
- US 10-year yields down 1.8 bps to 0.599%
- Gold up 0.5% to $1,805.90
- WTI down 0.7% to $40.47
- Bitcoin flat at $9,108
It was a largely quiet session with the focus being on the EU summit that is currently taking place in Brussels, where European leaders are meeting to try and reach a compromise on the recovery fund proposal over the next two days.
Despite some challenging remarks and political posturing, the euro kept firmer with EUR/USD rising from 1.1380 levels to 1.1430 during the session.
Other major currencies had little to work with as the rest of the market continues to be fixated on the risk mood for the most part. However, with European equities trading more mixed and US futures mildly higher, it isn't giving much direction for investors today.
As such, major currencies are largely kept in narrower ranges with AUD/USD seen between 0.6970-90 while GBP/USD stuck around 1.2540-60 for the most part.
Any headlines from Brussels on how talks are progressing are likely to be the focus ahead of the weekend, but virus headlines and the market mood will also be key trading drivers in North American trading as US stocks look to bounce back from yesterday's setback.
