Quiet day ahead
Good morning one and all. I shall be stepping in to cover Justin while he has a well earned rest, so I look forward to taking you through the start of the European session. The hand over from the overnight Asian session has been quiet with markets static in narrow ranges in part due to holidays in Japan and Singapore. It is a quiet day ahead in terms of scheduled data releases too:
0645BST Switzerland July unemployment rate
Swiss unemployment fell in June after the tick higher seen over the past few months amid the fallout from the virus outbreak. This was surprising, and it either points to the economy taking a less severe hit than anticipated from the crisis or that government support programs actually worked out extremely well. This month it will be interesting to see how the Swiss economy has fared. However, as always for the franc and the SNB, the measures of inflation will remain the key factor in the CHF 's path.
0930BST European Sentix Investor confidence data release
Not a major release by any means, but it will be viewed in light of general eurozone recovery sentiment. Last reading was -18.2 and a reading of -15.2 is expected. The maximum expected reading is -8.5 and the minimum is -20. This is a survey of around 1600 financial analysts and institutional investors on the current market view and future expectations in the next 6 months.
There is nothing noteworthy on scheduled speeches ahead either. Looks like a quiet one folks!