European Forex news roundup: The euro continues to struggle in mixed trading.
The atmosphere is tepid and uneven today, as the Russia-Ukraine conflict clouds continue to hang over markets. The upbeat tone from yesterday has faded, but there are no indications of larger concerns in the action thus far.
European indices are mainly down, with slight losses, while US futures have fluctuated between minor gains and losses throughout the day. Today’s erratic mood is exacerbated by a lack of direction in the bond market.
The euro remains the laggard in foreign exchange, as the single currency continues to struggle to stay afloat amid the Russia-Ukraine crisis. The break below 1.1100 in EUR/USD is helping to apply some downside pressure, and other euro pairs such as EUR/GBP, EUR/CHF, and EUR/JPY are also not looking good this week.
The dollar has remained slightly more robust and mixed throughout the session, generally trading lower against the Australian dollar and the Swiss franc.
The AUD/USD exchange rate rose to 0.7323, approaching its 200-day moving average, which is currently restraining aussie advances.
In other news, gold is holding steady on the day, while oil is retreating somewhat following a large spike higher ahead of European trading. Brent crude achieved a high of $119.84, while WTI crude hit a high of $116.57, before recovering to $113 and $111, respectively, but still roughly 3% higher on the day.
The most recent ECB monetary policy accounts for the February meeting :
- ECB members concurred that latest data suggest inflation is likely to remain elevated for longer than expected
- There was broad agreement that situation had changed and inflation narrative needed to be adjusted
- It remained an open question as to whether the March projections would show inflation reaching ECB target within the projection horizon
- Some argued that APP and NIRP were no longer consistent with incoming data
- A number of members were of the view that forward guidance conditions were already broadly satisfied
- But it was maintained that governing council should avoid an overreaction to inflation developments
Markets News :
- AUD leads, EUR lags on the day
- European equities lower; S&P 500 futures up 1.8%
- Gold down 0.2% to $1,928
- WTI up 0.8% to $111.76
- Bitcoin down 0.15% to $43,892
Source: XglobalMarkets
