Forex news from the European trading session - 12 April 2021
Headlines:
- Treasuries steady with auctions in focus to start the week
- A positive signal for the UK as parts of the economy reopen today
- Eurozone February retail sales +3.0% vs +1.7% m/m expected
- China March M2 money supply +9.4% vs +9.5% y/y expected
- SNB total sight deposits w.e. 9 April CHF 701.3 bn vs CHF 701.8 bn prior
- Germany reports 13,245 new coronavirus cases, 99 deaths in latest update today
Markets:
- GBP leads, USD lags on the day
- European equities mixed; E-minis down 0.1%
- US 10-year yields up 0.7 bps to 1.665%
- Gold down 0.1% to $1,743.00
- WTI up 1.0% to $59.92
- Bitcoin up 0.9% to $60,186
It was a relatively quiet session bereft of any key headlines as the market started off the week with a more sluggish mood in general as well.
US futures kept a touch lower throughout, though trimming losses now ahead of North American trading. If anything, just a slight pullback with earnings season set to come into focus as banks are reporting later in the week.
Treasuries kept largely steady and little changed, with 10-year yields hovering around 1.65% to 1.66% ahead of the auctions later in the day and tomorrow.
In FX, the dollar and yen were mildly stronger earlier and while the latter held its ground, the greenback surrendered its early advance to keep lower across the board.
The moves are relatively mild although the pound is gaining modest ground with cable bouncing from 1.3680 to 1.3760 - keeping a defense of its 100-day moving average.
The lift in sterling is also helped by a pullback in EUR/GBP during the session, as the pair moved away from 0.8700 to test support at 0.8740-45.
EUR/USD fell to a low of 1.1871 from 1.1900 earlier but has moved back up to keep just above the figure level after testing its 100-hour moving average on the session.
Elsewhere, oil is keeping a decent bounce and moving back up close to $60 while gold is still keeping little changed after a brief drop to $1,735 earlier.
Barring any major shocks in the Treasury auction results later, the market will keep its attention to US CPI data to follow tomorrow.