Marketwatch EU & UK

Daily Insights
September 17, 2024

  • The US dollar lost ground yesterday as markets eagerly await the Federal Reserve’s policy decision as rate setters on the FOMC kick off their two-day meeting later today. With analysts still split on a 25bp or 50bp move from the central bank, this afternoon’s Retail Sales report may impact the markets pricing ahead of tomorrow’s announcement. A drop in sales for August is being priced in after a recent drop in auto sales. American consumers continue to be nervous as high interest rates and an uncertain jobs market weigh on their decisions to make large ticket purchases.
  • Both the pound and the single currency were able to benefit from a slightly weaker greenback yesterday, with cable rallying through 1.32 and EURUSD consolidating above 1.11. We have the German ZEW survey later this morning, which is the first of the major surveys to be released in the euro area for September. The German economy unexpectedly shrank in the second quarter, despite the expansion in other euro area countries.
  • The pound continues to trade well and remains one of the best performing currencies in G10 during 2024. The pair rallied through psychological resistance at 1.32 to trade a whisker below 1.3220, ahead of significant resistance at the late August high around1.3260. This week’s CPI report and BoE decision will be closely monitored and a surprise in tomorrow’s inflation report could see the pound challenging the recent highs.

Economic Calendar

:
CNY - Bank Holiday
:
JPY - Tertiary Industry Activity m/m
:
CNY - Foreign Direct Investment ytd/y
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EUR - German ZEW Economic Sentiment
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EUR - ZEW Economic Sentiment
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GBP - 30-y Bond Auction
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CAD - Housing Starts
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CAD - CPI m/m
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CAD - Median CPI y/y
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CAD - Trimmed CPI y/y
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CAD - Common CPI y/y
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CAD - Core CPI m/m
:
USD - Core Retail Sales m/m
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USD - Retail Sales m/m
:
USD - Capacity Utilization Rate
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USD - Industrial Production m/m
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USD - Business Inventories m/m
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USD - FOMC Member Logan Speaks
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USD - NAHB Housing Market Index
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AUD - CB Leading Index m/m
:
NZD - GDT Price Index
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NZD - Westpac Consumer Sentiment
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CAD - Gov Council Member Rogers Speaks
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NZD - Current Account
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JPY - Core Machinery Orders m/m
:
JPY - Trade Balance

Market Indicators

Currency Pairs
Pair High Low
eur/gbp 0.84271 0.84229
gbp/usd 1.32115 1.31998
gbp/aud 1.95821 1.95549
gbp/nzd 2.135 2.13142
usd/jpy 140.844 140.319
eur/usd 1.11312 1.11216
gbp/jpy 186.06 185.314
eur/cnh 7.90067 7.8886
usd/cnh 7.10232 7.09133
Equities and Commodities
Nasdaq 100 19437.8
DOW 41603.5
S&P 500 5634.57
BRENT CRUDE 73.01
WTI 70.55
GOLD 2575.12

This document is for information purposes only and does not constitute any recommendation or solicitation to any person to enter into any transaction or adopt any trading strategy, nor does it constitute any prediction of likely future movements in exchange rates or prices or any representation that any such future movements will not exceed those shown on any illustration. All exchange rates and figures appearing are for illustrative purposes only. You are advised to make your own independent judgment with respect to any matter contained herein.

About Simon Walker

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Simon Walker is head of the GPS Capital Markets trade desk in our London office where he is responsible for covering market risk in European hours. He has over 25 years’ experience in foreign exchange, working in both sales and trading.