Forex news from the European trading session - 6 September 2018
Headlines:
- China says that US' attempts to pressure China are ineffective
- Germany August construction PMI 51.5 vs 50.0 prior
- China says it will be forced to retaliate if US imposes additional tariffs
- Cryptocurrencies are taking it on the chin again today
- Ifo raises 2018 German GDP growth forecast to 1.9% from 1.8%
- Germany July factory orders -0.9% vs +1.8% m/m expected
- More from BOJ's Kataoka: Biggest risk is letting deflation continue
- Switzerland Q2 GDP +0.7% vs +0.5% q/q expected
- BOJ's Kataoka says additional easing is needed in monetary policy
Markets:
- JPY leads, CAD lags behind on the day
- European equities mixed
- Gold up 0.77% to $1,206.22
- WTI up 0.09% to $68.78
- US 10-year yields flat at 2.90%
- Bitcoin down 8.21% to $6,379
It's been a relatively quiet session for the most part as the market is heavily focused on the possible announcement of tariff measures to come from the US on Chinese goods. The public hearing for the $200 billion tariffs concludes today and thereafter it sure feels like it's a mere formality before the announcement is made. And that is keeping markets on edge as we got things going in the session.
Currencies were mostly mixed but the yen and swissie were the two leaders early on as mild risk off flows were seen from Asian trading and at the start of European trading as well. USD/JPY began things around 111.30 levels and pretty much traded between 111.20 to 111.40 for the entire session. USD/CHF traded similarly as well around 0.9690 to 0.9700.
The dollar then lost some ground on the session but the impact was mostly seen among other currencies with EUR/USD trading higher from 1.1620 to about 1.1640 levels while AUD/USD pared earlier losses moving from 0.7170 to 0.7190.
Thereafter, there was a slight bid in the pound as cable jumped from 1.2920 to a high of 1.2945 on the day. The quid also moved higher against the yen and swissie in a broad move but retraced some of those gains thereafter. There wasn't anything notable to have caused the jump but it's a minor one to say the least.
And although equities started turning the corner and moved higher on the day, there was little to cheer about for the rest of the market as the sluggish trading continued with market participants continuing to wait for further developments in the trade rhetoric between US and China.
On net, the dollar is a little weaker with commodities mostly recovering from yesterday's losses against the greenback while currencies are mixed with a hint of risk off as the yen and swissie lead the way - with the pound just behind them. As for bonds, they're pretty much flat on the day offering little direction to other asset classes.
Apart from that, cryptocurrencies continue to be battered as Bitcoin falls below its 100-day moving average and looks towards testing the $6,000 now with altcoins also falling in a continuation of yesterday's decline.
