Headlines:
- The waiting game continues
- ECB's Lane: We are not pre-committing to a particular rate path
- ECB's Lane: We will be agile on interest rates
- ECB's Rehn: Monetary policy has dampened price pressures
- ECB's Villeroy: We have leeway to lower rates before exiting restrictive stance
- BOJ to begin tapering bond purchases at this week's meeting - poll
- UK April ILO unemployment rate 4.4% vs 4.3% expected
- US May NFIB small business optimism index 90.5 vs 89.7 prior
- China premier Li Qiang is to visit Australia later this week
- OPEC maintains 2024 oil demand growth forecast in latest report
Markets:
- GBP leads, EUR lags on the day
- European equities lower; S&P 500 futures down 0.3%
- US 10-year yields down 3.2 bps to 4.437%
- Gold down 0.2% to $2,306.94
- WTI crude down 0.2% to $77.58
- Bitcoin down 3.9% to $66,909
It was a slower session once again as markets are finding it tough to have any convictions before the main events later this week.
The euro was lower, carrying over the softer mood from yesterday. The political worries continue to permeate, weighing again on European stocks as well after a light bounce at the open. EUR/USD is down 0.3% to 1.0730 while EUR/GBP is down to nearly two-year lows at 0.8420 levels currently.
Besides that, major currencies were less enthused with the dollar keeping steadier overall. USD/JPY is flat and continuing to hug near the 157.00 level.
In the equities space, US futures are nudging lower as the push and pull continues ahead of tomorrow's CPI and Fed showdown. As for the bond market, yields are tracking back a little after the rise yesterday. So, the mix of all that isn't giving traders much firm direction so far this week.
The waiting game continues ahead of the key risk events on the week. The happenings tomorrow should help to kick things into gear. But until then, we'll just have to wait for a bit more.
