Major currencies continue to look rather disinterested in trading this week. The dollar remains steady for the most part, despite a drop in yields and a bump higher in stocks overnight. USD/JPY is seeing a strong recovery from 149.20 to 150.40 currently, settling back into range as we look to wrap up the week.
That is still the persisting mood as we look towards European trading today. The yen is the only decent mover so far with other major currencies caught in a bind.
In other markets, stocks are cautiously higher after braving past the month-end volatility while Treasury yields remain stuck so far this week. The latter still sits in this particular predicament here. Besides that, gold is one to watch as it threatens a further upside break towards the end of the week. The precious metal is up to $2,046 now and contesting key trendline resistance around $2,045. A break above that will allow for breathing room towards $2,060 next.
Looking to the fundamentals, we will have some data releases to work with in Europe today. Manufacturing PMI data will steal most of the headlines but they aren’t going to offer too much as these are final readings for February mostly.
The focus instead will be on the Eurozone inflation data as traders look to weigh the ECB outlook. The numbers should reaffirm a further moderation in price pressures, bolstering the narrative for rate cuts. Core annual inflation will be one to watch and is expected to dip from 3.3% in January to 2.9% in February. However, the preliminary readings have shown that core prices have been rather sticky. As such, any upside surprise could see odds for an April rate cut completely phased out.
0700 GMT – UK February Nationwide house prices
0815 GMT – Spain February manufacturing PMI
0830 GMT – Switzerland February manufacturing PMI
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 preliminary CPI figures
1000 GMT – Eurozone January unemployment rate
That’s all for the session ahead. I wish you all the best of days to come and good luck with your trading! Stay safe out there.