Forex news from the European morning session - 23 June 2020
Headlines:
- EU leaders to hold in-person summit on recovery fund next month on 17-18 July
- US lawmakers ask the Fed to help businesses struggling with mortgage payments - report
- German state of North Rhine-Westphalia imposes lockdown for Gütersloh amid virus outbreak
- Japan foreign minister says hundreds of Japanese set to travel to Vietnam this week
- UK June flash services PMI 47.0 vs 40.0 expected
- Germany RKI chief: Rising virus infection rate is due to isolated outbreaks
- Eurozone June flash services PMI 47.3 vs 41.5 expected
- Germany June flash manufacturing PMI 44.6 vs 42.5 expected
- France June flash services PMI 50.3 vs 45.2 expected
- ECB's de Cos: Central bank remains committed to avoid financial fragmentation
- Germany reports 503 new coronavirus cases, 10 deaths in latest update
- SNB's Zurbruegg: Not concerned about possibility of being named a currency manipulator by the US
Markets:
- AUD leads, JPY lags on the day
- European equities higher; E-minis up 0.9%
- US 10-year yields up 1.8 bps to 0.727%
- Gold up 0.2% $1,757.71
- WTI up 1.9% to $41.50
- Bitcoin flat at $9,637
The focus on the session was the PMI readings, but in the run up to that we had the whole Navarro fiasco during Asia Pacific trading.
That saw risk trades dip before hitting the reset button as Navarro walked back on his remarks that the US-China trade relationship "is over".
Stocks began the session mildly higher with tepid changes across the major currencies space but the better-than-expected headline PMI readings from France, Germany and UK helped to give risk trades an added boost in European morning trade.
Though the details still suggest some room for caution, it doesn't take much to get this market going and this was yet another case in point.
US futures began the session near flat levels before turning gains to around 1% currently, with European stocks also racing higher to gains of nearly 2% (DAX is up by 2.7%) across the board as we look towards the North American session ahead.
In turn, that saw the dollar and yen keep weaker with EUR/USD rising from 1.1270 to 1.1300 and AUD/USD pushing gains from 0.6910 to 0.6930-40 levels.
The pound was more tepid though, as EUR/GBP continues its run above 0.9000 to briefly hit a three-month high of 0.9079 and is holding just under there now.
The loonie was also underpinned with USD/CAD near 1.3500 as oil prices continue to sit in a better spot above $40 amid chatter of OPEC compliance.
Looking ahead, risk remains the major focus in the market and while the daily US coronavirus figures are losing some of its pull, it is still something to watch for in case the numbers jump out of the page and start to have an impact on the market again.
