Forex news from the European trading session - 1 September 2021
Headlines:
- ECB's Stournaras: Recent jump in inflation is due to temporary factors
- OPEC+ said to be focused to remain on monthly oil output increase of 400k bpd
- UK August final manufacturing PMI 60.3 vs 60.1 prelim
- OPEC+ said to be set to stick with latest output policy at its meeting today
- Key takeaways from the latest manufacturing PMI readings in Europe
- Eurozone August final manufacturing PMI 61.4 vs 61.5 prelim
- UK August Nationwide house prices +2.1% vs +0.2% m/m expected
- Germany July retail sales -5.1% vs -0.9% m/m expected
- ECB's de Guindos: Inflation will continue to pick up this year, expects that it will fall back in 2022
- Heads up: OPEC+ meeting later today
Markets:
- AUD leads, JPY lags on the day
- European equities higher; S&P 500 futures up 0.3%
- US 10-year yields up 2.2 bps to 1.324%
- Gold down 0.1% to $1,812.06
- WTI up 0.2% to $68.66
- Bitcoin up 1.4% to $47,679
There were a couple of data releases to move things along in Europe today but nothing that really stood out to move markets whatsoever on the session.
The ECB continues to reaffirm that inflation is transient while euro area manufacturing PMI reflected summer resilience, which looks to be fading as supply chain disruptions and rising cost pressures start to weigh on the outlook.
The dollar kept steadier for the most part, keeping in middling territory as risk sentiment leans towards being more positive on the day.
Equities are picking up where they left off in August, with European indices posting solid gains while US futures are also marked higher by around 0.3%.
That is helping commodity currencies to see a slight advance, with the aussie up 0.4% against the dollar to 0.7340 - also helped by solid Q2 GDP data earlier.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD is dragged down from 1.2610 to 1.2590 as oil prices are also holding slightly higher ahead of the OPEC+ meeting later in the day.
The bloc is expected to stick with plans to rollover an output increase of 400k bpd.
Elsewhere, EUR/USD is little changed, keeping in and around the 1.1800 handle while USD/JPY is up from 110.10 to 110.40 as Treasury yields are also advancing slightly today.
