Headlines:
- And there it is.. EUR/USD falls back to parity
- ICYMI: Nord Stream pipeline to be halted for three days for maintenance
- The staggering surge in European energy prices continues
- Risk-off flows starting to permeate in European morning trade
- Chinese yuan stumbles further to start the new week
- RBNZ governor Orr confirmed to be in attendance at Jackson Hole
- OPEC+ reportedly miss output target by 2.9 mil bpd in July
- Iran says "nothing is agreed until everything is agreed" on nuclear deal
- Bundesbank says German recession is looking increasingly likely
Markets:
- AUD leads, EUR lags on the day
- European equities lower; S&P 500 futures down 1.1%
- US 10-year yields down 1.5 bps to 2.974%
- Gold down 0.9% to $1,731.23
- WTI crude up 0.5% to $91.22
- Bitcoin flat at $21,201
The dollar continues to keep steady in the new week while the euro stumbled to parity against the greenback again as Europe continues to deal with a host of concerns, the latest being Russia to halt natural gas supplies via the Nord Stream pipeline for three days at the end of August.
Energy prices in the region were sent soaring and the euro slumped with EUR/USD falling from 1.0030 to 0.9990, before hovering around parity for the time being. GBP/USD also eased lower in a fall from 1.1820 to 1.1785 before sticking around 1.1800 as sellers flirt with a steeper drop to start the new week.
Stocks continue to be pressured lower with European indices mostly falling by over 1% alongside US futures, which saw early declines deepen with S&P 500 futures having initially been down by 0.3% before falling now by over 1.1% on the day.
The sense of risk aversion kept bonds slightly more bid but the likes of the aussie and kiwi are defying the risk flows so far today. AUD/USD is seen up 0.5% to 0.6910 as buyers keep a defense of the 5 August low at 0.6869 since the end of last week.
Elsewhere, oil continues to see volatile trading as an initial fall to $88.90 is more than recovered as price traded back up to $91.03 before sticking just below that currently. OPEC+ continues to significantly underdeliver in terms of output target in July, but that is already rather known over the past few months.
Jackson Hole is the key focus in trading this week but so far, the risk mood and dollar flows are still two key factors playing their part in influencing trading sentiment to kick start proceedings.
