Forex news from the European trading session - 4 September 2020
Headlines:
- White House asks US agencies to detail all China-related funding - report
- BOE's Saunders: I am not theologically opposed to negative rates
- BOE's Saunders: It is likely that additional easing will be appropriate
- BOJ reportedly mulls "upgrading" economic assessment amid signs of a pickup
- UK August construction PMI 54.6 vs 58.3 expected
- Germany August construction PMI 48.0 vs 47.1 prior
- Germany July factory orders +2.8% vs +5.0% m/m expected
- China's exports likely kept solid momentum in August - Reuters poll
Markets:
- CAD leads, CHF lags on the day
- European equities mixed; E-minis flat
- US 10-year yields up 1 bps to 0.645%
- Gold up 0.4% to $1,939
- WTI up 0.9% to $41.75
- Bitcoin down 3.2% to $10,442
It was a largely quiet session as the market is waiting with bated breath on the US jobs report that is to be released later at 1230 GMT.
Major currencies didn't do much at all, trading in narrow ranges for the most part although the loonie is mildly higher as USD/CAD eased from 1.3130 to just under 1.3100.
Other than that, the movement in FX was more tepid and exemplified by the 31 pips range in EUR/USD so far today. Most currencies are little changed against the dollar.
The more interesting move was in equities as European indices erased its opening losses in the first half-hour and US futures also nudged higher into positive territory.
But all that is fading a little as equities look more flat and tepid as well, with investors eyeing for more clues from the US jobs report before the long weekend.
The non-farm payrolls data may not necessarily be a game changer, but the reaction to any hiccups or unexpected outcomes will certainly be the key focus to wrap up the week.
If anything, watch out for risk trades once again as that may guide trading sentiment before the weekend, considering the moves we saw yesterday.
