Marketwatch EU & UK

Daily Insights
July 25, 2023

The greenback weakened for the first time after winning for six days as China announced fresh new stimulus for its struggling economy, lifting investor sentiment. AUD/USD rises 0.4% and trades mid 0.67-0.68 and USD/JPY is 0.1% lower, remaining above 141. EUR/USD is higher 0.1% today and heading towards 1.11 while GBP/USD consolidates mid 1.28-1.29.

Optimistic investors are driving China’s markets as Beijing has finally adopted a more serious growth policy and is expected to announce more supportive policies. This statement boosted Chinese equities and the yuan, but the main question now is if these policies are going to follow through and be able to tackle issues like a sinking housing market and high youth unemployment.

Germany IFO Survey is estimated today at 9AM and is usually on of the best gauges to measure Germany’s growth. This time, business expectations is the one to watch, especially as we had a soft ZEW survey in July that renewed concerns about Germany’s growth and recovery. Supply-chain limitations and the possibility of an energy crunch are easing but the manufacturing sector still appears to be struggling. Sentiment is also being dragged by tighter credit conditions, high energy prices and weaker global demand.

Euro-area PMIs released yesterday were alarming red flags and now puts in question September’s hike by the ECB. This deterioration is now visible beyond the manufacturing sector as services also started to show a slowdown in the month of June. The headline reading (Eurozone Composite PMI) fell to 48.9 in July from the previous 49.9 in June.  Manufacturing in the euro-area continues to suffer more than services, although services have started to feel the impact of the current monetary tightening in place. The manufacturing PMI dropped to 42.7, from the previous 43.4, and services PMI dropped to 51.0, from the prior 52.0.

Economic Calendar

8:00am:
EUR - German ifo Business Climate
2:00pm:
USD Richmond Manufacturing Index
2:00pm:
USD - CB Consumer Confidence

Market Indicators

Currency Pairs
Pair High Low
eur/gbp 0.86369 0.85824
gbp/usd 1.28645 1.28092
gbp/aud 1.90476 1.89324
gbp/nzd 2.07215 2.06018
usd/jpy 141.74 141.018
eur/usd 1.10866 1.10207
gbp/jpy 182.012 181.143
eur/cnh 2 2
usd/cnh
Equities and Commodities
FTSE 7,700.2900
DOW 35433.1
SP500 4,554.6400
BRENT CRUDE 82.98
WTI 79.06
GOLD 1963.76
EURO STOXX 50
UK NBP GAS
TTF DUCTCH GAS
Nasdaq 100
S&P 500

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.