ForexLive European FX news wrap: Currencies muted awaiting US jobless claims, Trump

Headlines:

• Heads up: Trump set to address world leaders in Davos later today
• Weekly update on interest rate expectations
• ECB’s Escriva: We still have restrictive policy
• France January business confidence 95 vs 94 prior
• UK January CBI trends total orders -34 vs -35 expected
• China says willing to work with US to promote stable development of trade ties

Markets:

• USD leads, AUD lags on the day
• European equities higher; S&P 500 futures down 0.2%
• US 10-year yields up 4.5 bps to 4.643%
• Gold down 0.3% to $2,747.19
• WTI crude up 0.4% $75.69
• Bitcoin down 2.2% to $101,773

It was a quiet session again with no major economic releases again in Europe today.

That didn’t give FX traders much to work with as major currencies got stuck in narrower ranges. The dollar is sitting only marginally higher, helped out by a slight push up in yields again. 10-year Treasury yields were lightly changed early on but are now up to 4.64% and that could give the dollar more impetus later in US trading.

EUR/USD is down just 0.1% to 1.0394 while USD/JPY is flat at around 156.58. Elsewhere, GBP/USD is down 0.1% to 1.2300 and USD/CAD up slightly by 0.2% to just above 1.4400 currently.

In the equities space, European stocks are holding their ground but US futures are lower after yesterday’s gains. Tech shares are the ones leading the declines today with S&P 500 futures lower by 0.2% and Nasdaq futures lower by 0.5%. Dow futures are flat though at the moment.

It’s all still to play for in trading today with US weekly jobless claims coming up before the focus turns back towards Trump as he is set to address world leaders via a virtual feed in Davos.

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