Headlines:
- US non-farm payrolls the main focus, but have the numbers been severely overestimated?
- ECB's Lagarde: We still have work to do to bring inflation back down to our target
- ECB's de Guindos: We will continue to follow a data-dependent approach
- ECB's de Guindos: Evolution of core inflation will be key to future policy decisions
- BOJ likely to hold off YCC tweak in July, says ex-central bank official
- Germany May industrial production -0.2% vs 0.0% m/m expected
- UK June Halifax house prices -0.1% vs 0.0% m/m prior
- Yellen says US seeking healthy competition with China
Markets:
- JPY leads, USD lags on the day
- European equities mixed; S&P 500 futures down 0.1%
- US 10-year yields up 1.9 bps to 4.059%
- Gold up 0.3% to $1,916.72
- WTI crude up 0.5% to $72.15
- Bitcoin down 0.5% to $30,169
It's all about the US jobs report today and that made it a bit of a quieter one in Europe, though there were some light market moves.
In particular, the Japanese yen gained across the board with USD/JPY briefly falling below 143.00 from around 143.50 in the handover from Asia trading. The downside momentum in the pair continues despite higher bond yields, so that divergence is something to be wary about as we move towards the closing stages of the week.
Meanwhile, the dollar itself is slightly softer on the balance of things despite the risk mood being fairly tentative and cautious. European stocks opened lower but are now keeping more mixed while US futures are marginally down on the day.
EUR/USD is little changed just below 1.0900 while GBP/USD is up just 0.2% to 1.2770 on the day. The antipodeans are also holding minor gains against the greenback, with AUD/USD up 0.2% to 0.6640 and NZD/USD up 0.3% to 0.6175 currently.
It's not much but we should be getting more action before the weekend comes along with the non-farm payrolls report later set to induce another round of volatility surely. Will we get the same reaction as yesterday on a beat in the data?