ForexLive European FX news wrap: Dollar dumped
Forex news from the European trading session - 19 February 2021
Headlines:
- BOE's Vlieghe: No more stimulus is required if economy evolves in line with February projection
- UK February CBI trends total orders -24 vs -35 expected
- China may ban rare earth technology exports on security concerns - report
- UK February preliminary services PMI 49.7 vs 42.0 expected
- Eurozone February preliminary services PMI 44.7 vs 45.9 expected
- Germany February preliminary manufacturing PMI 60.6 vs 56.5 expected
- France February preliminary services PMI 43.6 vs 47.0 expected
- UK January retail sales -8.2% vs -3.0% m/m expected
- Germany January PPI +1.4% vs +0.9% m/m expected
- ECB's Villeroy: As long as inflation remains weak, there can't be any change to monetary policy
- Germany reports 9,113 new coronavirus cases, 508 deaths in latest update today
Markets:
- AUD leads, USD lags on the day
- European equities higher; E-minis up 0.4%
- US 10-year yields up 1.4 bps to 1.309%
- Gold down 0.2% to $1,772.80
- WTI down 1.7% to $59.50
- Bitcoin up 1.2% to $52,680
The dollar slumped heavily in European morning trade despite a quieter and calmer tone in the market for the most part. After a couple of days of reprieve earlier in the week, the greenback looks to be struggling to stay afloat once again ahead of the weekend.
The aussie was the biggest beneficiary as AUD/USD climbed from 0.7760 to its 0.7860 - its highest levels since March 2018. Meanwhile, GBP/USD clipped the key psychological level of 1.4000 for the first time since April 2018 as the breakout continues.
Elsewhere, EUR/USD moved up from 1.2095 to 1.2145 as buyers seized back near-term control but keeping just below daily resistance closer to 1.2150 for the time being.
USD/CAD also managed a striking turnaround in a drop from 1.2700 to 1.2613, with the dollar slump outweighing the loonie's woes from weaker oil prices on the day.
On that note, the Texas thaw is feeding into softer oil prices ahead of the weekend with WTI back under $60 - also comes after testing its 100-month moving average and key trendline resistance earlier in the week:
Besides that, equities held steadier after a more tepid start with US futures starting to run higher now as Treasury yields are also looking to nudge higher.
Looking over to precious metals, gold continues to struggle but staved off an early scare in Asia Pacific trading in a drop to $1,760. But despite the dollar slump, gold is not really going anywhere as it hugs $1,770-75 mostly and that is not a good sign either.
