Well not a lot of change from where North America closed out Thursday, with Asian trading finishing the week with a whimper. Talk of large Toshin activity today has proven a damp squib.
It was interesting to see the sharp USD gains late yesterday. It should also be noted that sterling made some decent cross gains as well, and the moves seem to have had their roots, to a fair degree, in comments related to quantitative easing.
Fed’s Fisher said the US central bank may or may not have to complete announced purchase of $300 bln mortgage bonds, treasuries, while BOE’s Sentance said the Old Lady may pause it’s bond purchase plan, if it is justified by forecasts.
One thing which sticks out to me, is that if you follow China in the markets you will tend to do ok. Yesterday I heard them selling EUR/USD at 1.4260/70 (we’re now at 1.4155), buying USD/CHF around middle 1.06’s (we’re now at 1.0740) and on the offer in USD/JPY up at 95.30 (we’re now at 94.80) They were also seen in buying USD/CAD, but not overly sure at what levels. As I said recently, you could do worse than follow the giant panda, or was it dragon?
Interesting morning in store data-wise;
06:45 GMT: French consumer confidence July, expected -37
07:00 GMT: French PMI July, manufacturing expected 46.4, services 47.6
07:30 GMT: German PMI July, manufacturing expected 42.1, services 46.0
08:00 GMT: Euro zone PMI July, manufacturing expected 43.5, services 45.2, composite 45.3
08:00 GMT: German ifo , business climate expected 86.5, current assessment 82.9, expectations 90.1
08:30 GMT: UK Q-2 GDP expected -0.3% q/q.
08:30 GMT: UK index of services 3m/3m May
