ForexLive European FX news wrap: Dollar eases lower ahead of US data flurry

Headlines:

• USD/JPY falls to three-week lows as dollar slips to start the session
• EURUSD Technical Analysis – The pair looks to be bottoming out
• Potential for dollar selling this month end – Deutsche
• Gold bounce today keeps buyers interested going into month-end
• What is the distribution of forecasts for the US PCE?
• ECB’s Schnabel: Easing too much would use up valuable policy space
• ECB’s Schnabel: I see only limited room for further rate cuts
• Germany December GfK consumer confidence -23.3 vs -18.6 expected
• France November consumer confidence 90 vs 93 expected
• US MBA mortgage applications w.e. 22 November +6.3% vs +1.7% prior

Markets:

• JPY leads, USD lags on the day
• European equities lower; S&P 500 futures down 0.1%
• US 10-year yields down 4.1 bps to 4.261%
• Gold up 0.8% to $2,652.44
• WTI crude up 0.5% to $69.09
• Bitcoin up 1.5% to $93,037

There weren’t any major headlines on the session, with just some light data releases to move things along. However, we got some pretty decent market moves as the dollar slumped ahead of a slew of US economic data later. Month-end shenanigans in play?

The greenback eased alongside bond yields, with USD/JPY being the biggest loser. The pair was already down to around 152.50 at the end of Asia trading before dropping further to hit three-week lows of 151.21 during the session. Meanwhile, EUR/USD is seen up 0.4% to 1.0530 and GBP/USD also up 0.4% to 1.2620 on the day.

The RBNZ had earlier cut interest rates as expected here but some market participants took the details as saying that the central bank might slow down the pace of rate cuts. Even though RBNZ governor Orr refuted that sentiment, the kiwi still jumped higher as it also builds on a technical bounce off 0.5800 this week. NZD/USD is seen up 0.9% to 0.5885 currently.

Besides that, the mood in equities remains fairly subdued despite late buying in Wall Street yesterday. European equities are continuing to be pushed lower while US futures are also holding slightly on the softer side.

In the bond market, 10-year yields in the US are down 4 bps to 4.26% while 10-year yields in Germany are seen down 2 bps to 2.16% – its lowest since the start of October.

As for commodities, gold is pushing back up again as it climbs 0.8% to $2,652 while oil is sitting a little higher just above $69 after some back and forth trading yesterday.

It’s on to the flurry of US data next before markets get engulfed by the Thanksgiving holidays.

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