Headlines:
- Dollar firms ahead of North American trading
- Beijing COVID-19 outbreak has spread to Hebei province - state media
- UK January CBI trends total orders 24 vs 22 expected
- Ifo economist: German economy starts new year with glimmer of hope
- Germany January Ifo business climate index 95.7 vs 94.7 expected
- BOJ's Kuroda: Must continue easy policy as inflation target remains distant
Markets:
- USD leads, CHF lags on the day
- European equities higher; S&P 500 futures down 1.4%
- US 10-year yields up 3.8 bps to 1.773%
- Gold down 0.2% to $1,839.70
- WTI flat at $83.28
- Bitcoin down 0.6% to $36,585
It was a rather quiet session as equities are looking fairly more cautious following the stunning comeback in Wall Street late yesterday.
US futures pointed lower since Asian trading, keeping that way throughout European morning trade. That is helping to see the dollar hold slightly firmer as we look towards the session ahead.
EUR/USD fell to fresh lows in five weeks from 1.1310 to 1.1270 while GBP/USD dropped to a three-week low from 1.3490 to 1.3437, before keeping around 1.3450 levels now.
Meanwhile, the franc is the biggest loser with USD/CHF rising 0.6% to 0.9200. The SNB is perhaps at play here after having seen EUR/CHF fall to its lowest since 2015 yesterday.
Elsewhere, AUD/USD is down 0.2% to 0.7125 while NZD/USD is continuing to track lower after the break to the downside yesterday, falling 0.5% to 0.6665.
It's still all about the risk mood today and the big question now is whether or not dip buyers can pull off another miracle.
