Euro Shrugs after Soft Data

The euro has edged lower and is trading at 1.0138 in the North American session, down 0.27% on the day. Eurozone retail sales, Services PMI fall Today’s Eurozone data de-accelerated, which is bound to raise concerns about the health of the eurozone economy. Eurozone Services PMI dropped to 51.2 in July, down from 53.0 in […]

US: The Services Sector Gains Momentum in July            

The ISM Services Index accelerated in July, adding 1.4 percentage points (ppts) with a reading of 56.7 – higher than the 53.5 expected by the consensus. Demand factors added 2 ppts to the overall index. The biggest contributor was the new orders subindex, which rose by 4.3 ppts to 59.9, while business activity subindex added […]

Weak Eurozone Demand Could Drag the Euro Down

In contrast to many other countries and regions, the Eurozone recorded a slowdown in output inflation. The year-over-year PPI growth rate declined for the second month, showing a fall in June to 35.8% from 36.2% and 37.3% in the previous two months. Although average forecasts had expected a slightly lower rate, one cannot ignore the […]

AUD/USD Finds Little Support From the RBA

The pace of future RBA hikes is up for question AUD/USD is below the key 0.70 psychological level The Same Old Story The RBA raised its policy rate by 50 bps on Tuesday to 1.85% – its fourth consecutive hike and the steepest in nearly 30 years. But that’s done little to lift AUD/USD, which […]

BoE to Jack Up Rates by 50 bps Today to 1.75%

Markets Minneapolis Fed and SF president Kashkari and Daly yesterday put it very clearly: rate cuts in 2023 are very unlikely and markets are ahead of themselves pricing them in. These are just two more quotes from a concerted hawkish intervention by the Fed. Fed’s Barkin sought to ease concerns for a recession, citing the […]

Bitcoin Fails to Keep Up with Stocks

Bitcoin has added 0.8% to $23100 in the past 24 hours, a worryingly weak result. Ethereum strengthened 1.3% to $1650. Other leading altcoins gained between 0.9% (Cardano) and 7.2% (BNB). Total crypto market capitalisation, according to CoinMarketCap, rose 1.8% to $1.08 trillion overnight. The Cryptocurrency Fear and Greed Index lost 4 points to 30. Bitcoin’s […]

US July NFP Expected to Slow

The headline number of job gains so far this year has left policymakers quite happy. But a look under the surface shows some troubling signs. And they are expected to be exacerbated by the data forecast for tomorrow. In the context of the Fed reasserting its intention to keep raising rates to control inflation, jobs […]

Yen Edges Lower ahead of Household Spending

USD/JPY continues to gain ground and has pushed across the 134 line. In the European session, the pair is trading at 134.12, up 0.20%. The week started off nicely for the Japanese yen, which took advantage of broad weakness in the US dollar. USD/JPY fell 1.22% on Monday and touched a low of 131.60, its […]

Crude Oil Affirms Downtrend

Wednesday proved to be a busy day for oil traders, but the bears emerged as winners at the end of the day. Following WTI, which surrendered a tactically important position, Brent is showing more and more signs of a bear market. Brent and WTI traded up almost 3% after reports that OPEC is likely to […]

The MPC's Economic Assessment Was Nothing But Grim

Markets The Bank of England did what it was expected to do. After delivering a 50 bps rate hike in a 8-1 vote, the biggest in 27 years, the policy rate now stands at 1.75%. Inflation intensified, amongst others due to near doubling in gas prices. But domestic price pressures remain strong too owing to […]