Forex news from the European morning session - 22 November 2019
Headlines:
- ECB's Kazimir: We need fiscal policy support to get better results
- China premier Li says will not resort to competitive devaluation of the yuan
- UK November flash manufacturing PMI 48.3 vs 48.9 expected
- Eurozone November flash manufacturing PMI 46.6 vs 46.4 expected
- ECB's Lagarde: Europe needs a new policy mix
- Germany November flash manufacturing PMI 43.8 vs 42.8 expected
- France November flash manufacturing PMI 51.6 vs 50.9 expected
- Germany Q3 final GDP +0.1% vs +0.1% q/q prelim
- China president Xi: We are not afraid of a trade war
- China president Xi: Chinese economy has great resilience
Markets:
- NZD leads, GBP lags on the day
- European equities a little higher; E-minis up 0.1%
- US 10-year yields down 2.8 bps to 1.745%
- Gold up 0.6% to $1,472.67
- WTI down 0.4% to $58.32
- Bitcoin down 7.0% to $7,070
Markets kept steady for the most part as the US-China trade rhetoric takes a bit of a breather following the push and pull over the past few days.
Stocks maintained mild gains with some minor fluctuation here and there while bond yields eased slightly amid cautious sentiment ahead of the weekend.
As such, we saw USD/JPY ease from 108.60 to just under 108.50 with gold also gaining some ground on the session.
The pound was main mover as cable eased to just under 1.2900 before disappointing UK PMI prints pushed it lower to 1.2864 before settling around 1.2870-80 levels after.
The data merely reaffirms the sluggishness in the UK economy but should also keep BOE rate cut talks rather sensitive with Q4 economic growth likely to contract.
The euro also saw light action amid mixed PMI prints with price pushing to 1.1087 before falling back to 1.1047 and then sticking to near flat levels now.
Other major currencies kept steady for the most part with AUD/USD barely moving on the session, mired by large expiries at 0.6795 today as well.
Looking ahead, the risk mood remains the key factor driving the ebb and flow so be wary of more potential trade headlines just before the week comes to a close.
