Forex news from the European trading session - 23 November 2021
Headlines:
- Biden announces release of strategic petroleum reserve
- BOE's Haskel: Prospective rate hike is not a bug, but a feature
- UK November flash services PMI 58.6 vs 58.5 expected
- No word that OPEC+ will be changing output policy for now
- ECB's Knot: Current supply-side shocks may not be temporary
- Eurozone November flash services PMI 56.6 vs 53.5 expected
- Germany November flash manufacturing PMI 57.6 vs 56.9 expected
- France November flash services PMI 58.2 vs 55.5 expected
- ECB's Schnabel: It remains plausible to stop PEPP purchases in March next year
- Some Kaisa bondholders said to tap adviser to help recover payments
- German health minister reaffirms that lockdown measures cannot be ruled out
Markets:
- EUR leads, NZD lags on the day
- European equities lower; S&P 500 futures -0.1%
- US 10-year yields up 3.3 bps to 1.658%
- Gold down 0.5% to $1,796.02
- WTI down 0.3% to $76.50
- Bitcoin up 0.1% to $56,335
It was a lively session in Europe with the dollar trading back and forth as the market continues to work out the rates/inflation debate, with the Turkish lira also imploding further on the week as USD/TRY approaches 13.00:
The greenback saw a mixed showing early on with USD/JPY hitting an air pocket above 115.00 in a quick fall to 114.50 before gradually creeping its way back up on the day.
The move is helped by a surge higher in bond yields once again, with long-end Treasury yields climbing notably on the session. 10-year yields are up by over 3 bps to near 1.66%.
The euro was buoyed early on by PMI beats in France and Germany, which belies underlying sentiment on the outlook, with EUR/USD trading up to 1.1270 before retreating to 1.1230-40 levels at the moment.
The loonie and kiwi are among the two laggards that have kept at the bottom of the standings today, with the former weighed by heavier oil prices though the mood has since improved since Biden's SPR release announcement.
Expanding on that, oil prices were subdued initially - keeping with the mood over the past two weeks - in a fall to $75.70 before the SPR release news saw a light drag to $75.30. But with the headline risk out of the way, buyers are stepping in and oil is recovering losses to be down 0.3% on the day to $76.50 currently.
Elsewhere, equities were more subdued but European indices have at least shrugged off losses of over 1% earlier to keep slightly lower on the day. Meanwhile, US futures were also down by around 0.4% to 0.6% but have trimmed most of that now to near flat levels.
