24 Sep 2013
European open: little to upset the apple cart, commodities remain under pressure
FXstreet.com (London) - Heading into the European session, the central bank-fixated markets lack any significant drivers. Yesterday's dovish tones from Fed members William Dudley and Dennis Lockhart talked US Treasuries down, reassured that the Fed will not move too quickly to slow its artificial suppression of bond yields. US 10-year Treasuries currently stand at 2.69 percent.
Chinese HSBC flash PMI for September surprised to the upside, printing at 51.2 versus a market expectation of 50.9. Despite this, there is no revision of expectations for 7.25 percent growth in Chinese GDP.
Commodity markets remain under pressure at the prospect of a small taper in Fed asset purchases in October. Copper remains bearish, trading at 3,246.2/lb.
Though yesterday’s manufacturing PMI numbers disappointed, today’s IFO numbers from Germany could follow the positive tone taken by the ZEW institute earlier this month. The expectation is for the headline number to rise from 107.5 to 108, but it could go higher. Germany-driven upside for the common currency could be limited as Merkel remains in coalition negotiations, but anything beyond the 108 mark could give some short-lived EUR/USD gains.
There is no market-significant UK data scheduled to be released today. Deputy Governors Tucker and Bean will be speaking this afternoon, but don’t expect much deviation from Mark Carney’s stance on BoE conditions for rate hikes.
In the US, downside potential for USD comes from S&P/Case-Shiller home prices for July, which could see a decline this afternoon.
Chinese HSBC flash PMI for September surprised to the upside, printing at 51.2 versus a market expectation of 50.9. Despite this, there is no revision of expectations for 7.25 percent growth in Chinese GDP.
Commodity markets remain under pressure at the prospect of a small taper in Fed asset purchases in October. Copper remains bearish, trading at 3,246.2/lb.
Though yesterday’s manufacturing PMI numbers disappointed, today’s IFO numbers from Germany could follow the positive tone taken by the ZEW institute earlier this month. The expectation is for the headline number to rise from 107.5 to 108, but it could go higher. Germany-driven upside for the common currency could be limited as Merkel remains in coalition negotiations, but anything beyond the 108 mark could give some short-lived EUR/USD gains.
There is no market-significant UK data scheduled to be released today. Deputy Governors Tucker and Bean will be speaking this afternoon, but don’t expect much deviation from Mark Carney’s stance on BoE conditions for rate hikes.
In the US, downside potential for USD comes from S&P/Case-Shiller home prices for July, which could see a decline this afternoon.