Forex news from the European morning session - 25 March 2021
Headlines:
- Fed's Powell: We are strongly committed to inflation that averages 2% over time
- UK March CBI retailing reported sales -45 vs -37 expected
- Germany to impose new entry regulations for incoming flight passengers - report
- SNB's Jordan: Our willingness to intervene in the FX market remains the same
- SNB leaves policy rate unchanged at -0.75%, as expected
- Germany April GfK consumer confidence -6.2 vs -12.1 expected
- Germany reports 22,657 new coronavirus cases, 228 deaths in latest update today
Markets:
- AUD leads, JPY lags on the day
- European equities lower; S&P 500 futures up 0.1%
- US 10-year yields flat at 1.608%
- Gold down 0.2% to $1,731.65
- WTI down 2.3% to $59.80
- Bitcoin down 2.5% to $52,660
It was a relatively quiet session as the market pauses for breath, as the dollar rally in the past few days abate with the greenback keeping more mixed across the board.
EUR/USD is hanging on just above 1.1800 with defenses looking thin, while USD/JPY raced higher to hold just above 109.00 ahead of European morning trade.
The antipodeans are holding their ground after bleeding heavy losses in the past few sessions, with AUD/USD up to 0.7600 and NZD/USD holding a minor bounce to 0.6971.
That said, with risk sentiment looking rather cautious and subdued, things may quickly change - similar to what we saw yesterday - in North American trading.
US futures clawed their way higher earlier but have now erased gains with European indices also keeping lower for the most part during the session so far.
Elsewhere, oil is seen down 2% just under $60 as the volatile week continues.
Be it virus/lockdown concerns, the Suez Canal disruption, dour tones in Chinese markets, or just a pullback after the recent bond market rout, the market may not get too much answers as we approach the month-end and quarter-end rebalancing period.
The fact that this is taking place in light of a stronger dollar makes for further discomfort, especially with the potential for the dollar to run higher ahead of the weekend.
