Forex news from the European trading session - 23 July 2021
Headlines:
- Pfizer, BioNTech to deliver 200 million more COVID-19 vaccine doses to the US by April 2022
- ECB's Wunsch: Dissent should not be dramatised
- UK July flash services PMI 57.8 vs 62.0 expected
- Eurozone July flash services PMI 60.4 vs 59.5 expected
- Germany July flash manufacturing PMI 65.6 vs 64.2 expected
- France July flash services PMI 57.0 vs 58.7 expected
- Top adviser warns that French daily COVID-19 cases could reach 50,000 in August
- ECB's Villeroy: Totally justified to keep accommodative policy stance for now
- Australian states tangle over vaccine priority
Markets:
- NZD leads, JPY lags on the day
- European equities higher; S&P 500 futures up 0.4%
- US 10-year yields up 3.1 bps to 1.298%
- Gold down 0.6% to $1,795.33
- WTI down 0.1% To $71.87
- Bitcoin up 0.3% to 32,312
The market is keeping with the calmer mood in the past few days, though COVID-19 worries are slowly seeping in. For now though, that's not enough yet to derail the risk rally/rebound after the drop to start the week on Monday.
European equities are advancing, set to post a weekly gain, while US futures are also higher once again as we look towards North American trading.
10-year Treasury yields are also close to 1.30% and that is helping to keep risk sentiment buoyed, lifting USD/JPY from 110.25 to 110.50 levels on the day.
The euro kept steadier in a narrow trading range around 1.1760-70 for the most part.
Meanwhile, the pound was nudged a little lower from 1.3740 to 1.3720 with UK PMI readings suggesting that the recovery pace is stalling amid a surge in virus cases and as supply chain disruptions are weighing on business activity.
It's still all about the risk sentiment for now but the focus will turn towards the FOMC meeting next week for further clues, so we might expect more tepid tones to follow next week after the market gets one last push in before the weekend.
