Global trade tensions weigh on European stocks today
And that sees the yen and the swissie as the two main beneficiaries in the currencies space with haven flows very much the flavour of the session. However, the dollar is not able to benefit from the action today as it trades rather subduedly - dollar index is currently flat.
On the month so far, it's been a really harsh August for European stocks in general:
Worries in Turkey and Italy have helped to contribute to hefty losses for most major indices and Italy's MIB is the biggest loser in all of this. The index looks poised for its lowest daily close since April 2017 if the losses today hold up.
As mentioned yesterday, situations like this often benefits the swissie as flows out of European assets tend to favour a move towards the franc. And it is very much the case what we're seeing in August trading:
The swissie is the best performing currency this month - by quite a margin as well. So long as these trade tensions last and continue to weigh on European assets - along with Turkey and Italy worries - there's still much reason to believe the swissie has more room to run higher still even though shorts are starting to look more attractive.
