Forex news from the European trading session - 20 July 2018

Headlines:

Markets:

  • NZD leads, USD lags on the day
  • European equities lower following Trump's trade comments
  • Gold up 0.12% to $1,224.35
  • WTI crude up 0.24% to $69.63
  • US 10-year yields up 1.1 bps to 2.849%
  • Bitcoin up 0.59% to $7,463

The session offered little in terms of key movements as traders continue to suffer a bit of a "dollar hangover" following Trump's comments overnight. The dollar started the day a little on the back foot as traders weigh Trump's comments along with the fact that there were reports on intervention in the Chinese yuan.

The dollar index fell close to the 95.00 level before bouncing back again and moved to a high of about 95.20 before retreating again late in the session, and that was the only notable piece of action during the day in the currencies space.

The dollar's push higher saw cable move towards the 1.3000 handle again, but eventually moved higher as the dollar weakened towards the end of the session.

In other news, Italy's political worries resurfaced a little with comments by Borghi on the euro and tensions within the coalition government causing Italian assets to slide a little early on. But the jitters slowly faded as the session went by.

Apart from that, there is notable change in oil where it moved to highs mid-way through the session sending USD/CAD to session lows of 1.3233 as Brent and WTI posted gains of over 1%. That has all but faded now as it seems that the inability by buyers to break above the technical levels highlighted here on Brent capped the upside move.

And late in the session we got a bit of drama as CNBC published the second part of its interview with Trump and he said that he is "ready to go to 500" on tariffs imposed on Chinese products. That sent equities lower, but the currency and bond markets held steady in spite of that and we're seeing some retracement in stocks now.

Looking at individual currency pairs, EUR/USD held steady for majority of the session trading at the highs of 1.1674 early on before retreating to trade around 1.1630-50 levels currently.

USD/JPY also held steady trading to a low of 112.21 as the dollar weakened but thereafter held steady around 112.30-40 levels.

AUD/USD and NZD/USD were steady gainers early on as the Chinese yuan steadied against the dollar after reports of intervention but the aussie gave up some of its gains following the dip in equities late on.

That's about it for the session. I'll be away for the next two weeks so I'd like to wish everyone well over the next fortnight and all the very best with your trading. ;)