Marketwatch EU & UK

Daily Insights
May 16, 2024

  • The US dollar lost ground against its G10 peers yesterday after core CPI cooled for the first time in six months, aided by another month of deflation in core goods and easing in core services costs. Markets had been expecting a headline print of 0.4% for April, however a weaker than expected print of 0.31% helped to increase the odds of a September rate cut from the FOMC. Whilst one month’s data is unlikely to shift the needle and Fed officials will likely need further convincing, Fed funds futures moved to price as many as two full cuts before the end of the year. Retail Sales came in flat against expectations of a small gain, and this coupled with the slight nudge lower in inflation will likely make the FOMC more comfortable holding rates unchanged until rate setters gain more confidence that inflation is on a sustainable path to the 2% target.
  • After the data release, treasury yields fell, and dollar index lost ground as markets anticipated an early rate cut from the Fed. The Japanese yen gained, trading as low as 153.60 and EURUSD moved to within a whisker of 1.09, running into offers at 1.0895. GBPUSD followed a similar pattern, breaching resistance at 1.2650 to trade briefly through 1.27 before consolidating.
  • US jobless claims will be scrutinised this afternoon after last week’s print came in above expectations. A persistent rise in claims would suggest that the labor market may be deteriorating more quickly, so today’s print will give a further insight to the strength of the labor market.

Economic Calendar

:
AUD - Employment Change
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AUD - Unemployment Rate
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JPY - Revised Industrial Production m/m
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CNY - Foreign Direct Investment ytd/y
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EUR - ECB Financial Stability Review
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EUR - Italian Trade Balance
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EUR - EU Economic Forecasts
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GBP - MPC Member Greene Speaks
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EUR - German Buba President Nagel Speaks
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USD - Unemployment Claims
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USD - Building Permits
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USD - Philly Fed Manufacturing Index
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USD - Housing Starts
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USD - Import Prices m/m
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USD - Industrial Production m/m
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USD - Capacity Utilization Rate
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USD - FOMC Member Barr Speaks
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USD - Mortgage Delinquencies
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USD - Natural Gas Storage
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USD - FOMC Member Mester Speaks
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USD - FOMC Member Bostic Speaks
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NZD - PPI Input q/q
:
NZD - PPI Output q/q

Market Indicators

Currency Pairs
Pair High Low
eur/gbp 0.85822 0.85773
gbp/usd 1.27007 1.26831
gbp/aud 1.8995 1.89089
gbp/nzd 2.07367 2.06737
usd/jpy 154.534 153.598
eur/usd 1.0895 1.08814
gbp/jpy 196.053 195.044
eur/cnh 7.85729 7.8444
usd/cnh 7.21724 7.20294
Equities and Commodities
Nasdaq 100 18638.7
DOW 39959.9
S&P 500 5318.59
BRENT CRUDE 83.15
WTI 79.06
GOLD 2391.8

This document is for information purposes only and does not constitute any recommendation or solicitation to any person to enter into any transaction or adopt any trading strategy, nor does it constitute any prediction of likely future movements in exchange rates or prices or any representation that any such future movements will not exceed those shown on any illustration. All exchange rates and figures appearing are for illustrative purposes only. You are advised to make your own independent judgment with respect to any matter contained herein.

About Simon Walker

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Simon Walker is head of the GPS Capital Markets trade desk in our London office where he is responsible for covering market risk in European hours. He has over 25 years’ experience in foreign exchange, working in both sales and trading.