Headlines:
- A double boost for the aussie today
- Tech shares stay on the heavy side so far on the day
- China onshore yuan finishes the domestic session by erasing yesterday's losses
- Japan government cuts economic growth forecast for the current fiscal year
- Germany June PPI -0.3% vs -0.4% m/m expected
- France July business confidence 100 vs 100 prior
- Eurozone May current account balance €9.1 billion vs €4.0 billion prior
- Switzerland June trade balance CHF 4.82 billion vs CHF 5.48 billion prior
Markets:
- AUD leads, GBP lags on the day
- European equities slightly higher; S&P 500 futures down 0.2%
- US 10-year yields up 4.5 bps to 3.787%
- Gold up 0.2% to $1,981.65
- WTI crude up 0.1% to $75.45
- Bitcoin up 1.0% to $30,272
It was a relatively quiet session as markets are taking things a little slower on the day. There wasn't any big data but there were some interesting stories carrying over from Asia.
The Australian dollar remains buoyed and is leading gains after a more solid labour market report, but also helped out by a stronger Chinese yuan. On the latter, the PBOC moved to ease cross-border funding but also hammered down speculators with a much stronger fix for the onshore yuan.
AUD/USD has been holding gains since, up 0.8% to 0.6830 currently. Meanwhile, the dollar itself is a little mixed but marginally lower. EUR/USD is up slightly to 1.1205 with large option expiries near 1.1200 helping to keep price action more sticky. Then, USD/JPY continues to keep below 140.00 and is down 0.1% to 139.55.
The pound is the laggard, carrying over the losses from yesterday with GBP/USD testing waters just below 1.2900 again now.
In other markets, equities were steadier mostly in Europe but tech stocks are the ones trailing today. That comes after investors react negatively to the Tesla and Netflix earnings.
And in the bond market, we are seeing the strong bids since last week hit pause as yields trend a little higher on the day - at least for now.
