Forex news from the European trading session - 17 September 2021
Headlines:
- Reminder: Quadruple witching is on the cards today
- White House economic adviser downplays risks over debt ceiling standoff
- ECB's Makhlouf: Fears of excessive inflation are overstated
- ECB's Kazaks: Inflation outlook likely to be revised higher
- ECB's de Cos: Market expectations do not foresee a rate hike in 2023
- Eurozone August final CPI +3.0% vs +3.0% y/y prelim
- ICYMI: A warning to Evergrande that a bailout won't be a given
- UK August retail sales -0.9% vs +0.5% m/m expected
Markets:
- AUD leads, JPY lags on the day
- European equities lower; S&P 500 futures down 0.3%
- US 10-year yields up 1.4 bps to 1.344%
- Gold up 0.3% to $1,758.81
- WTI down 0.7% to $72.13
- Bitcoin up 0.5% to $47,360
There weren't any major headlines on the session and market action was more mixed as trading sentiment is still riddled with indecision for the most part.
The dollar is mildly softer across the board but keeping slight gains against the yen, which is the laggard on the day as bond yields hold a little higher.
Equities continue to reflect more choppy movement as early gains in European indices were erased alongside US futures, which are now down roughly 0.3%.
Keep in mind the trend this week has seen heavy selling at the open in Wall Street before some recovery of sorts later on. However, quadruple witching today may make things a bit more messy before we get to the weekend.
Going back to FX, EUR/USD is up slightly around 1.1770-80 levels but price action is sandwiched between key option expiries on the day.
USD/JPY inched higher from 109.85 to 110.00 and is keeping at the highs currently.
Meanwhile, commodity currencies are slightly ahead with AUD/USD leading gains in a push from 0.7290 to 0.7320 before settling around 0.7310 at the moment.
That said, the pair is hugging levels below its 100-hour moving average @ 0.7327 so sellers are still keeping near-term control i.e. action today is technically insignificant so far.
In the absence of key releases, risk sentiment is going to be the key factor driving the market action ahead of the weekend so let's see how that plays out but generally speaking, there doesn't seem to be a coherent theme this week.
