FX

Tech stocks saw a modest recovery on Friday as long-term bond yields dropped sharply. The rest of the stock market remained under pressure, however. Focus next week will be on key US data releases, fiscal stimulus headlines and more remarks from Powell. US tech stocks saw a modest recovery on Friday, with the Nasdaq 100

EUR/USD is ending the week on a sour note and has dropped back under 1.2100. USD buying into the month-end is the main driver, but dovish ECB rhetoric isn’t helping. What looked like a promising week for the euro is ending on a sour note. Having hit seven-week highs in the 1.2240s on Thursday (up

Large FX option expiries for Feb 26 NY cut at 10:00 Eastern Time, via DTCC, can be found below. – EUR/USD: EUR amounts 1.2175 1.5bn – GBP/USD: GBP amounts         1.4030 2.3bn 1.4060 1.2bn – AUD/USD: AUD amounts 0.7900 5.2bn 0.7975 2.2bn – USD/CAD: USD amounts         1.2530 1.4bn 1.2630 1.4bn – EUR/GBP: EUR amounts 0.8600 1.6bn

EUR/USD rallied to fresh seven-week highs above the 1.2200 level on Thursday. Month-end flows and technical buying seemed to power the move, with data for the most part ignored. EUR/USD broke above a key area of technical resistance between 1.2180-90 early on during European trading hours and is now consolidating in the 1.2220s, just below

NZD/USD defies pullback from August 2017 top following its bounce off 0.7420. Weekly closing becomes the key for Kiwi bulls, ascending trend line from March 2020 offers key support. NZD/USD trims intraday losses while picking up bids to 0.7438, down 0.15% on a day, while heading into the European session on Thursday. The quote jumped

WTI managed to move above $63.00 on Wednesday, as bulls eye a test of 2020 highs in the mid-$65.00s. Positive vaccine news and a generally strong macro backdrop continue to underpin crude oil markets. Front-month futures contracts for the American benchmark for sweet light crude oil, West Texas Intermediary (or WTI), continues to advance to

Gold (XAU/USD) consolidates its overnight recovery above $1800, having capitalized on  Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s dovish comments. Powell signaled Tuesday the Fed was nowhere close to unwinding its easy policy amid uneven economic recovery. Gold bulls also weigh in the reports that the House will vote on the US stimulus bill this Friday, as the

Pound gains momentum across the board during Powell’s presentations. US dollar turns negative, stocks trim losses. The GBP/USD rebounded sharply after the first comments from Jerome Powell and climbed to 1.4113, reaching the highest level since 2018. The move higher took place amid a decline of the US dollar. Fed’s Powell mentioned that the economy

USD/JPY drops for the fifth consecutive day as sellers battle 21-day SMA. Seven-week-old support line gains market attention as MACD turns red for the first time since early January. Fresh buying awaits daily closing beyond 105.80, monthly support adds to the downside filters. Following its drop to the one-week low, USD/JPY wavers in a choppy

Growing confidence in the global recovery, especially in the US, is leading to speculation over when the Fed might take its foot off the accelerator and buy fewer Treasuries and Agencies. Any tapering suggestion would put further pressure on gold, strategists at ING Bank report.  Key quotes “The rise that we have already seen in

AUD/USD pulls back from the multi-year high of 0.7908.  The hourly chart indicators show scope for a deeper drop. AUD/USD now trades largely unchanged on the day near 0.7875, having put in a multi-year high of 0.7908.  The hourly chart shows a bearish divergence of the Relative Strength Index (RSI). Further, the hourly chart MACD

Morgan Stanley’s Chief Cross-Asset Strategist Andrew Sheets predicts gold to fall further from the current levels even though inflation is set to rise in 2021. Key quotes (via Kitco News) “Morgan Stanley’s economists forecast US inflation to rise a little over 2% over the next two years. So, this is hardly the runaway type of scenario for inflation

GBP/USD has eased back from prior session highs at 1.40458 but looks likely to hold onto a 1.4000 handle. Positive pandemic trends, be it the UK’s vaccine rollout, news about vaccine efficacy, or falling infection rates have boosted GBP. GBP/USD has eased back from prior session highs at 1.40458 but looks likely to hold onto

Weekly closing above Nov 30 low offers a ray of hope for XAU/USD. The bearish bias remains intact until gold stays below 21-DMA. The recovery mode could extend into Asia’s weekly opening. Gold (XAU/USD) staged an impressive bounce Friday, having hit the lowest in seven months at $1761 in the Asian trades. Despite the corrective pullback,

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 both posted their fourth straight day of losses on Friday. But the former remains supported above 3900 as the macro backdrop remains positive. Rising US bond yields have been a cause for concern this week, however, and this was evident on Friday. The S&P 500 ended the session with modest

“There has been no evidence that negative rates have been counterproductive to the aggregate aims of monetary policy,” Bank of England (BoE) policymaker Gertjan Vlieghe said on Friday, per Reuters. Additional takeaways “Want to emphasise how far we still have to travel in this recovery.” “We are experiencing something between a swoosh-shaped recovery and a W-shaped

The pandemic’s second wave has hit Germany hard. January’s economic performance was hit by the lockdown, with falls in practically all economic sectors and the nation’s finance ministry sees economy subdued in coming weeks under measures to contain covid-19. The finance ministry sees inflation close to January’s 1.0% in coming months although say the leading indicators point

Bank of England (BoE) policymaker Michael Saunders said on Thursday that the unemployment rate in the UK is set to rise when the furlough scheme ends, as reported by Reuters. Additional takeaways “Jobless rate in the UK has risen markedly.” “More people report falls in savings than rises, the aggregate rise is concentrated at the