Forex news from the European trading session - 24 November 2021
Headlines:
- France to announce latest COVID-19 measures on Thursday this week
- US MBA mortgage applications w.e. 19 November +1.8% vs -2.8% prior
- UK November CBI trends total orders 26 vs 9 prior
- Fitch downgrades China's Aoyuan for the third time this month
- ECB's Panetta: Downside risks to the economy may be growing
- ECB's Holzmann: Inflation will likely subside next year
- Ifo economist says that there is no let up in supply chain bottlenecks
- Germany November Ifo business climate index 96.5 vs 96.6 expected
- Switzerland November Credit Suisse investor sentiment -10.8 vs 15.6 prior
- German parties in talks to form government plan announcement at 1400 GMT
- France November business confidence 114 vs 113 prior
- Japan says no decision on timing of sale of oil reserves
Markets:
- USD leads, NZD lags on the day
- European equities lower; S&P 500 futures down 0.3%
- US 10-year yields flat at 1.667%
- Gold down 0.3% to $1,785.11
- WTI down 0.1% to $78.44
- Bitcoin down 1.9% to $56,605
It was a decent session that saw some back and forth action but ultimately, the mood music in FX is as it has been over the past two weeks and that is the dollar once again pushing higher with EUR/USD dragged to fresh sixteen-month lows.
In the equities space, European indices opened higher only to slip and pare gains as sentiment eased with US futures slipping from light gains to turn negative on the session.
There weren't any specific headlines but worries surrounding the COVID-19 situation in Europe and some softer data certainly didn't help with the mood.
EUR/USD dropped from 1.1230 to 1.1205 though buyers are holding a defense just above 1.1200 for now. Meanwhile, USD/JPY climbed up from 114.90 to 115.10 and paring earlier losses as Treasury yields also erased a drop earlier to turn flat now.
GBP/USD stayed on the defensive as price gradually nudged lower to 1.3355 as sellers continue to try and search for fresh lows since December last year.
Elsewhere, commodity currencies are staying pressured as well with USD/CAD inching up towards 1.2700 and AUD/USD slipping from 0.7220 to 0.7200.
The kiwi is the laggard after the RBNZ hiked rates by 25 bps, disappointing some of the more hawkish section of the market who were hoping for a 50 bps move.
NZD/USD fell to 0.6895 early on before sticking around 0.6900-10 levels but is now falling back to make fresh lows on the day ahead of North American trading.
