The ranges among major currencies may not look that bad but the change on the day currently exemplifies the lack of real interest on the session. The dollar is holding more mixed in general with light changes all around. EUR/USD is up just 0.1% to 1.1674 with large option expiries at 1.1700 also capping any potential extension to price action today. Meanwhile, USD/JPY is also down just 0.1% to 147.64 while GBP/USD is marginally higher by 0.1% to 1.3520. Yawn much.
In the equities space, we’re seeing European stocks at least hold slightly higher on the day. The positive murmurs surrounding Russia-Ukraine tensions are helping at least, though it remains to be seen if there will be any major breakthrough. As for US futures, the mood remains rather muted with S&P 500 futures down 0.1%.
The bond market is also pretty much dead with not much change of note in yields, while gold is just up 0.2% to $3,338 and continuing to hold more rangebound in the big picture since late May.
It’s all about waiting for bigger developments this week. Tomorrow, we’ll get the RBNZ policy decision, UK CPI report, and Fed minutes. On Thursday, we’ll have a slew of PMI data as well as the US weekly initial jobless claims. In between all that, we also will get key earnings from Target and Walmart. And to round things off at the end of the week, there’s Fed chair Powell’s appearance in Jackson Hole.
