Forex news from the European trading session - 15 April 2021
Headlines:
- All eyes on US retail sales data later in the day
- Treasury yields hold a little lower on the day so far
- BOJ likely to deliberate about more upbeat economic outlook this month - report
- France March final CPI +1.1% vs +1.1% y/y prelim
- Germany March final CPI +1.7% vs +1.7% y/y prelim
- BOJ cuts economic assessment for 2 of 9 Japanese regions in April
- Germany reports 29,426 new coronavirus cases, 293 deaths in latest update today
Markets:
- CAD, NZD lead, EUR lags on the day
- European equities a little higher; S&P 500 futures up 0.4%
- US 10-year yields down 1.9 bps to 1.613%
- Gold up 0.5% to $1,745.54
- WTI down 0.3% to $62.98
- Bitcoin flat at $62,410
It was another quiet session for the most part as market participants are keeping the focus and anticipation on the US retail sales data release later today.
Equities nudged higher while Treasury yields are kept a little lower with 10-year yields seen around 1.61% but still holding around the soft bottom near 1.60%.
US futures gradually gained on the session with Nasdaq futures seen up 0.5% while S&P 500 futures and Dow futures are also performing well, up 0.4%.
The firmer risk mood pushed the dollar a little lower initially but the greenback managed to recover some ground and keep more mixed across the board now.
EUR/USD pushed up to a high of 1.1993 earlier on before falling back to 1.1960 levels currently, with large expiries seen around 1.1960-90 keeping price action contained alongside key resistance around 1.1990-00.
USD/JPY continues to gradually nudge lower as it keeps below 109.00, seen last at 108.79, with lower Treasury yields helping to underpin the yen.
Commodity currencies are the ones leading gains with the aussie and kiwi building on yesterday's climb to push to fresh highs in over three weeks.
AUD/USD bounced back from an early setback to move up from 0.7710 to 0.7761 before gains were trimmed to 0.7740 levels. NZD/USD moved up to a high of 0.7180 as it looks to secure a firm break above its 100-day moving average @ 0.7143.
All eyes are on the US retail sales data release to follow at 1230 GMT now.
