ForexLive European FX news wrap: Euro gains fizzle, stocks look to bounce back

Headlines:

• Euro in search of a breakout on German election results
• Germany’s SPD says it is unclear if they will be part of the future government
• Gold Technical Analysis – Awaiting new catalysts
• Weekly update on interest rate expectations
• ECB’s Wunsch warns of risk of “sleepwalking” into too many rate cuts
• Germany February Ifo business climate index 85.2 vs 85.8 expected
• Eurozone January final CPI +2.5% vs +2.5% y/y prelim
• SNB total sight deposits w.e. 21 February CHF 438.1 bn vs CHF 432.5 bn prior
• Xi says China happy to see Russia, relevant parties make positive efforts on Ukraine

Markets:

• AUD leads, JPY lags on the day
• European equities mostly higher; S&P 500 futures up 0.5%
• US 10-year yields up 1.9 bps to 4.439%
• Gold up 0.4% to $2,946.66
• WTI crude flat at $70.40
• Bitcoin down 0.4% to $95,869

After some early buzz on the German election result over the weekend, things kind of fizzled off in European morning trade today.

The euro was marked higher earlier in the day but saw gains evaporate at the start of the session. EUR/USD was holding around 1.0515 in the handover from Asia to Europe before quickly falling to 1.0470 levels in the opening hour in Europe.

There wasn’t too much action after, with the pair hovering around 1.0465-80 levels for the most part after, settling under the pivotal 1.0500 mark.

Besides that, the dollar is keeping little changed and fairly mixed across the board. USD/JPY is up 0.3% to 149.75 but the greenback is down just a touch against the commodity currencies. USD/CAD is down 0.1% to 1.4210 and AUD/USD up 0.1% to 0.6365 on the day. There wasn’t much catalyst in terms of headlines to really stir things up here.

In broader markets, German stocks are holding modest gains but caught a brief scare right after the open. The DAX opened up 1% higher before erasing those gains from the get go. But after the brief dip, it quickly recovered and is now back up by 0.8% on the day.

Besides that, US futures are also holding higher and looking to bounce back after the heavy selloff on Friday. For Wall Street and tech shares, all eyes are on Nvidia’s earnings later on in the week though.

Elsewhere, the bond market is fairly muted with yields holding just a little higher after the drop on Friday as well. 10-year yields in the US are staving off a test of 4.40% for the time being at least.

We’ll have bigger fish to fry during the course of the week but for now, it’s a slower start to proceedings. The euro was supposed to be a potential standout but it has lost much of its early allure already. Looking to the days ahead, don’t forget about month-end flows being a factor as well.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.