Forex news from the European morning - 23 March 2020
Headlines:
- German govt signs off on €750 billion economic package to combat virus fallout
- MAS brings forward monetary policy statement to 30 March
- SNB total sight deposits w.e. 20 March CHF 608.8 bn vs CHF 603.0 bn prior
- BOJ steps in with another record ETF purchases today again
- ECB's Vasle: We are monitoring the situation, ready to do more if needed
- Hong Kong reportedly set to ban all tourists and transit travelers
- ECB's Visco: We are ready to do more if necessary
- Singapore core inflation falls for the first time in a decade
- India halts stocks trading as Sensex slumps by 10%, triggers circuit breaker
- US president Trump: We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself
- G20 will not issue statement after emergency conference call today - source
Markets:
- JPY leads, NZD lags on the day
- European equities lower by 3-4%; E-minis down 3.4%
- US 10-year yields down 4 bps to 0.80%
- Gold down 0.3% to $1,494
- WTI down 1.6% to $22.26
- Bitcoin down 1.8% to $5,862
It was a purely risk-off session in the market today as investors continue to digest negative developments from the coronavirus outbreak across the world.
The cases and deaths continued to pick up in Europe as more and more cities and countries are announcing further lockdowns and going into isolation, banning foreign entry.
US futures hit limit-down very early in the day and trimmed losses during the European morning but are still sitting over 3% lower ahead of North American trading.
European equities were also beaten down and that kept the likes of the yen and franc bid during the session, with the aussie and kiwi on the back foot.
But it was all about the dollar in the currencies space as the greenback recouped earlier losses to push higher against the rest of the major currencies bloc.
USD/JPY trimmed losses from 109.67 to 110.80 currently with EUR/USD also falling from 1.0769 to 1.0680 during the session. Meanwhile, cable also fell from 1.1700 to a low of 1.1507 as the pound stays pressured amid multi-decade lows still.
Looking ahead, all eyes will be on the next vote on the US economic relief package at 1345 GMT after the initial vote yesterday failed to pass.
The market is holding out hope that the bill will provide some relative comfort in these tough times, but the key question is, for how long can that last?
With the shocker of a US weekly jobless claims approaching on Thursday, let's see what else does central bank and government measure have in store for us.
