Weekend:

EUR/USD gapped lower in the early hours of Asia, prior to much liquidity being available. The move was in response to the outcome of the French election, with no one party coming close to a majority and the prospect of a hung parliament looming. The right-wing National Rally, led by Marine Le Pen failed to live up to high expectations, coming in 3rd. The left-wign alliance outperformed, placed ahead of Macron’s centrist. While the risk of a far-right government has dropped for now, we'll have to see how the centre and left can cobble together a coalition majority, if not there will be ongoing instability ahead.

After its move lower EUR/USD recovered to (almost) cover its gap.

From Japan we had wages data for May, with a mixed bad of results. Base pay came in at its best since January 1993, while nominal wages were the best in 11 months. So far, so good. The ‘but’ is that real wages fell for a record 26th month in a row. USD/JPY has fallen a little on the session.

The People’s Bank of China set the USD/CNY reference rate back on the 7.12 big figure today. The Bank announced that in additional to its daily Open Market Operations (OMOs) in the morning, it will also carry out temporary OMOs in the afternoon to manage liquidity in the banking system. The CNH showed some strength today.

Across major FX ranges were fairly subdued.

BTC and ETH, and other crypto, fell, with no fresh, clear, obvious catalyst.

EUR/USD:

Gap eurusd wrap 08 July 2024 2