Major currencies are not much changed on the day but all eyes are on the Japanese yen, as the currency weakens to 145 against the dollar earlier in Asia trading. USD/JPY is now at 144.70 as traders are also perhaps taking profits amid fear of intervention by Japan officials.
Meanwhile, equities are in a steadier mood but surprisingly it wasn’t tech stocks that led led to the gains yesterday. Instead, they were the underperformers as we continue to see some rotation plays ahead of month-end and quarter-end later today.
As mentioned through the week, it’s tough to gather much conviction on risk trades at this point as any reasoning will also have to factor in the end of month/quarter flows into the equation.
Looking ahead to European trading today, euro area inflation is the big data to watch and a more sticky core inflation figure is going to keep the ECB vindicated in pursuing tighter policy. The estimate for headline annual inflation is to fall to 6.7% from 6.9% in May, but core annual inflation is estimated to tick higher to 5.5% from 5.3% last month.
0600 GMT – Germany May import price index
0600 GMT – Germany May retail sales data
0600 GMT – UK June Nationwide house prices
0600 GMT – UK Q1 final GDP figures
0645 GMT – France June preliminary CPI figures
0700 GMT – Switzerland June KOF leading indicator index
0755 GMT – Germany June unemployment change, rate
0900 GMT – Eurozone June preliminary CPI figures
0900 GMT – Eurozone May 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.