Forex news for NA trading on February 19, 2018.
- European major indices end the day with losses
- ECB's Rimsevics freed from detention
- Blackrock's strategist Turnill upgrades US equities on earnings momentum
- Eurogroup nominates De Guidos for ECB VP role
- Dollar stumbles into the fixing
- Bitcoin trades higher and stays above moving average support
- The best thing I read on the weekend
- The US trade deficit is the data point to watch
- France's Le Maire says IMF and Greece reaching a good understanding
- EU'S Moscovici says "No Comment" on Rimsevics' detention
- AUD is the strongest. JPY is the weakest. US President's Day holiday
It is a holiday in NA today, but banks and markets were open in Europe. The only newsworthy news came with the ascension of Spain's Economic Minister Luis De Guindos as the next ECB VP nominee. On approval, De Guidos will take over for Portugal's Vitor Constancio whose eight year term will be over in May. Ireland's central bank chief Philip Lane earlier pulled out of the race, leaving the favorite De Guindos as the only candidate.
The other news came from Latvia where central bank head Ilmars Rimsevics was detained and questioned on corruption charges. He denies the charges and will likely give a press conference tomorrow in his defense. As the Governor of the Central Bank, Rimsevics is on the governing council of the ECB - at least for now.
In other developments today:
- Gold was little changed
- Bitcoin is higher and remains above its 100 hour MA keeping the buyers more in control
- The USD moved higher in the London afternoon session, but fell back down into the London fixing. It remains higher on the day but off the session highs.
- The AUD was the strongest (followed by the USD). The JPY was the weakest in trading today.
- European stocks got off to a weak start with all the major indices lower. A Blackrock analyst is neutral on the European indices but has upgraded the US market on record earnings momentum.
