Forex news from the European trading session - 25 August 2021
Headlines:
- US MBA mortgage applications w.e. 20 August +1.6% vs -3.9% prior
- Japan expands state of emergency to eight more prefectures
- ECB's de Guindos: ECB could again revise upwards macroeconomic projections
- Ifo says 70% of industrial businesses complain about supply chain bottlenecks
- Germany August Ifo business climate index 99.4 vs 100.4 expected
- Switzerland August Credit Suisse investor sentiment -7.8 vs 42.8 prior
- Oil rebound this week stalls a little near key technical resistance
Markets:
- USD leads, CAD lags on the day
- European equities mixed; S&P 500 futures down 0.1%
- US 10-year yields up 1.7 bps to 1.307%
- Gold down 0.5% to $1,794.40
- WTI up 0.3% to $67.71
- Bitcoin down 1.5% to $47,614
After a lively start to the new week, the market is taking a breather as the risk rally pauses ahead of the much anticipated Jackson Hole symposium later in the week.
Overall risk tones are sluggish but that comes off a more positive session yesterday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq having posted fresh record highs again.
The dollar is holding slight gains but nothing to shout about as it merely is a mild pullback to the price action seen on Monday and Tuesday, though price action on the session was more reflective of a push and pull but keeping within narrow ranges.
USD/CAD inched up from 1.2600 to 1.2630 while other major currencies saw light changes against the greenback. EUR/USD moved up from 1.1735 to 1.1760 before paring that back to 1.1735 at the moment.
GBP/USD moved up to 1.3740 to contest key near-term levels but pulled back after, falling to 1.3710-20 as we look towards North American trading.
Meanwhile, USD/JPY gradually crept higher from 109.75 to 109.90 as 10-year Treasury yields are also inching above 1.30%. Elsewhere, the antipodeans remain rather muted in mixed trading against the dollar today.
In the commodities space, gold is dragged under $1,800 amid higher yields while oil is attempting to challenge its 100-day moving average at $67.85 as the rebound this week continues to hold up.
There's not much else to take note of as this appears to be more of a placeholder period perhaps, with the market attaching a bigger focus to Jackson Hole.
