Forex news from the European morning session - 4 July 2019
Headlines:
- ECB's de Guindos: Risks to economic growth are tilted to the downside
- Australian parliament passes government's tax cut legislation
- Eurozone May retail sales -0.3% vs +0.3% m/m expected
- China says that it won't engage in competitive currency devaluation
- Germany June construction PMI 50.0 vs 51.4 prior
- China says hopes US will implement Trump's promise on Huawei
- Switzerland June CPI 0.0% vs -0.1% m/m expected
- Erdogan: If US refuses to deliver F-35 jets, it would be 'robbery'
Markets:
- CHF leads, NZD lags on the day
- European equities mixed
- Gold down 0.2% to $1,415.31
- WTI down 0.3% to $57.16
- Bitcoin up 2.2% to $11,633
With US markets closed in observance of Independence Day, markets elsewhere are also taking a bit of a breather with subdued movement across most asset classes to start the day. European bonds kept things interesting at least where we saw 10-year bund yields fell below the ECB deposit facility rate of -0.40%.
But in the currencies space, there wasn't much action with the dollar holding steady amid a slight decline in commodity currencies. The kiwi was the notable loser with NZD/USD falling from 0.6700 to 0.6680 in a drop below key near-term technical levels.
Meanwhile, AUD/USD eased after failing to hold gains at the start of the session around 0.7040 and falling to 0.7020 levels currently. USD/CAD rose a little on the back of weaker oil prices, with Brent having fallen by more than 1% earlier before recouping those losses to turn flat on the day now.
Other major currencies remain more subdued with EUR/USD caught in a 18 pips range, with large option expiries between 1.1280-00 also weighing on the pair. With Treasuries not trading today, USD/JPY observed little direction in a 13 pips range around 107.80.
With US traders on holiday today, I would a more quiet and thin trading session ahead as markets start to (already have) turn their attention towards the release of the US non-farm payrolls report tomorrow as well.
To all our readers residing in the US, I wish you Happy 4th of July!
