Major currencies continue to show little interest in trading this week. The dollar has largely held steady even as yields have fallen and stocks have soared overnight. USD/JPY has now made a strong recovery from 149.20 to 150.40, moving back within the range towards the end of the week.
If we look at European trade today, such a mood still persists. While other major currencies are suffering, the yen is the only one that is showing decent movement at the moment.
Elsewhere in the market, U.S. Treasury yields have remained stagnant so far this week, while stocks have climbed cautiously after overcoming month-end volatility. The latter is still in this particular predicament here. On top of that, gold is a stock to watch as it threatens another bullish break towards the end of the week. The precious metal has now risen to $2,046 and is contending with key trendline resistance near $2,045. A break above this will give us some headroom for the next move to $2,060.
Looking at the fundamentals, there will be some data releases in Europe today. Manufacturing PMI data will take most of the headlines, but they don’t offer much as they are mainly the final values for February.
The focus will instead be on euro zone inflation data as traders try to gauge the ECB’s outlook. This number would reaffirm further easing of price pressures and support the case for rate cuts. The annual core inflation rate is expected to fall to 2.9% in February from 3.3% in January. However, preliminary figures show that core prices are quite sticky. Therefore, an upside surprise could completely phase out the probability of an April rate cut.
0700 GMT – UK National House Prices for February
0815 GMT – Spain February Manufacturing PMI
0830 GMT – February Manufacturing PMI for Switzerland
0845 GMT – Italy February Manufacturing PMI
0850 GMT – France February final manufacturing PMI
0855 GMT – Germany February Final Manufacturing PMI
0900 GMT – Eurozone February final manufacturing PMI
0930 GMT – UK February final manufacturing PMI
1000 GMT – Eurozone February CPI preliminary figures
1000 GMT – Eurozone January unemployment rate
That’s all for the upcoming sessions. We wish you all great days ahead and good luck in your dealings. Please stay safe.
