Forex news from the European trading session - 28 March 2018
Economic data:
- UK March CBI retailing reported sales -8 vs 7 expected
- Switzerland March Credit Suisse investor sentiment 16.7 vs 25.8 prior
- Italy January industrial sales m/m -2.8% vs +2.5% prior
- Spain February retail sales y/y +1.9% vs +2.2% prior
- France March consumer confidence 100 vs 100 expected
- Germany GFK April consumer sentiment 10.9 vs 10.7 exp
Government/Central banks:
- Trump says that Kim Jong Un's China visit went very well
- SNB's Maechler says CHF still highly valued and even somewhat stronger in recent months
- Latest BOE Agents Summary notes weaker retail sales, subdued HPI and modest labour cost growth
- EU Commission said to rule out unilateral concessions to the US - report
- Japan's Abe says BOJ need to be very careful about buying foreign bonds
- Japan's Abe says he will raise sales tax as planned
- Kuroda says BOJ will continue powerful monetary easing persistently
- Riksbank's Skingsley says it's natural to raise rates before ECB
- Japan's Abe says Cabinet is not thinking of resigning at all
Others:
- FX option expiries for the 14.00 GMT cut - 28 March 2018
- OPEC's Barkindo says to continue to evaluate market conditions before taking action
- Around 5,000 UK finance jobs may be moved by Brexit - survey
- Iraq oil minister Luaibi says that oil market is stabilising
Markets:
- USD leads so far, JPY lags behind
- European equities mostly lower, DAX -1%
- Gold down by 0.47% to $1,338.79
- WTI crude down by 0.74% to $64.77
- US 10-year yields down by 2 bps to 2.757%
- Bitcoin up by 0.66% to $8,040
A day with few notable headlines, but plenty of action so far. The main theme in trading has been about dollar strength still - but the same can be said yesterday as well when we approached the US trading session, no?
Equities continued to slump as the tech selloff from yesterday's US trading extends to Asian and European trading today. But that hasn't help to keep risk-off currencies underpinned. In fact, the yen and the swissie are the two main laggards on the day.
There is some positive developments from North Korea - with good news touted from Kim Jong Un's visit to China. That boosts up the chances of denuclearisation and peace talks between North Korea and the rest of the world - though it's not the only story at play surely.
Month-end and quarter-end flows continue to muddy up the picture in the currency market as most major currencies fell to a low against the dollar before recovering some losses.
EUR/USD fell to a low of 1.2377 before bouncing back up now. Cable fell to a low of 1.4134 after having held its head above the dollar at the start of the day trading near 1.4200 levels, before trading now around the 1.4150 handle.
As for commodity currencies, the aussie and kiwi continues to lag behind on the day - as they have been for the most part. AUD/USD has fallen to lows not seen since last December, as pressure continues to mount on the aussie no matter what the market environment is.
It feels like a familiar feeling, as the dollar led the way into US trading yesterday too. Let's see if the wild ride continues later in the day.
