Marketwatch EU & UK

Daily Insights
August 1, 2023

The Aussie fell against the greenback after the Reserve Bank of Australia left interest rates unchanged at its meeting earlier today and on China’s disappointing PMI data. AUD/USD dropped 0.9% to trade below 0.67 while USD/JPY rises for a third consecutive day to trade mid 142-143.EUR/USD trades below 1.10 and GBP/USD continues to decline but consolidates above 1.28. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index wins for the second day.

China’s Caixin manufacturing PMI slipped to a 6-month low of 49.2 in July, worse than estimated by economists and registering the first contraction since April. In addition to this disappointing data, China’s home sales tumbled 33% YoY in July, underscoring why policy makers are seeking to tackle this fallback in the housing market, which is weighing on the recovery of the country’s economy.

UK House prices have fallen the most since 2009 as borrowing costs rise. The Nationwide Building Society stated that its measure of prices fell 0.2% in July, from the previous 0.1% gain in May. Annually, the rate of decline accelerated to 3.8%, the highest since 2009. This data about prices flags the 13 interest rates hikes done by the Bank of England since the end of 2021, that constrained the ability of consumers to be able to pay more for properties.

Later today we will have US Manufacturing PMI data, which should show a slight rebound from June’s decline. Nevertheless, it should remain in a contractionary territory (<50) for a ninth consecutive month as producers expect a slowdown in consumer demand and avoid keeping excess production.

Economic Calendar

4:30am:
AUD - Cash Rate
4:30am:
AUD - RBA Rate Statement
2:00pm:
USD - ISM Manufacturing PMI
2:00pm:
USD - JOLTS Job Openings
10:45pm:
NZD - Unemployment Rate
10:45pm:
NZD - Employment Change q/q

Market Indicators

Currency Pairs
Pair High Low
eur/gbp 0.85766 0.85613
gbp/usd 1.28386 1.28153
gbp/aud 1.92806 1.90882
gbp/nzd 2.07553 2.06414
usd/jpy 142.844 142.251
eur/usd 1.10016 1.09793
gbp/jpy 183.204 182.589
eur/cnh 7.89109 7.856
usd/cnh 7.1749 7.14418
Equities and Commodities
Nasdaq 100 15741
DOW 35554
S&P 500 4590.04
BRENT CRUDE 85.19
WTI 81.6
GOLD 1956.03

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.