Forex news from the European morning session - 17 September 2019
Headlines:
- Aramco tells customers that some October oil loadings to be delayed
- Germany September ZEW survey current situation -19.9 vs -15.0 expected
- BOJ reportedly sees no backlash in markets if rate cut becomes necessary
- Saudi oil minister press conference said to be called for 1715 GMT
- Swiss government cuts 2019 GDP growth forecast to 0.8% from 1.2% previously
- Dollar demand something to potentially keep an eye on over the next few weeks
Markets:
- EUR leads, AUD lags on the day
- European equities lower; E-minis down 0.2%
- US 10-year yields down 3.7 bps to 1.81%
- Gold up 0.1% to $1,500.20
- WTI down 1.7% to $61.85
- Bitcoin down 0.5% to $10,168
Markets are largely quiet today after the more hectic start to the week as the oil drama begins to settle down a little bit today.
Oil prices are still elevated but aren't in a hurry to climb sharply higher for the time being with Brent holding ~$68 and WTI seen around ~62 during the session.
Currencies traded sideways for the most part as EUR/USD pivoted around the 1.1000 handle while GBP/USD threatened a break below the 1.2400 level only to run into support from the 100-hour moving average.
The aussie and kiwi stayed weaker throughout the European morning after a slightly dovish rhetoric from the RBA (via minutes) and weakness in the Chinese yuan. AUD/USD lingered around 0.6831-40 throughout the session.
Equities and bonds also continue to display more caution as markets now move away from the oil drama and focus towards the Fed decision tomorrow.
The anomaly in the short-term funding market continued with dollar-denominated overnight repo rate spiking up to 5%, though it is not really translating to much when you look at how cross-currency basis swaps are performing.
That is about the only notable event in markets this morning as we start the countdown to the FOMC meeting tomorrow.
