Following a relatively active holiday week, European traders have entered on a quiet note. The US dollar is under modest pressure today, though the moves are of little significance in the bigger picture. Following a nasty reversal in Friday’s London trading, EURUSD is recouping a portion of losses and now sits a big figure (100 pips) from the all-time high at 1.4970 (estimated). The lackluster environment is comprised of very light volume and poor liquidity. The ranges are deceiving – though healthy relative to “normal” trading, the currency movement itself has been choppy. It appears as though New York traders will determine the fate of Monday’s FX market.
The bulk of London price action occurred from 0200-0300 EDT (0700-0800 GMT). Immediately upon filling their trading desks, market players drove EURUSD to the topside, easily taking out the day’s highs at 1.4837 and bolstering the pair to a high near 1.4880. USDJPY has held a very quiet 50 point range, within the confines of the Asia trading span. EURJPY benefited from the ascent in Euro and has spent the majority of European trading north of 161.00. Other currency pairs moved as expected, with the weak US dollar prevailing as the lone theme of the session thus far.
There were no major economic releases or global headlines concerning trading today. New York traders too will have a clean slate to begin the week, with an empty economic agenda for Monday. In other markets, precious metals are breaking to the upside, led by a +$10 pop to $835/oz in gold futures. The US 10-year is starting the week yielding (roughly) 4 % and the US equity markets look to continue a bounce from Dow 12,800 support, following an estimated -10% sell off from the mid-October highs. Dow Futures are higher by +64 as of this writing. Lastly, the Crude Oil pullback was short-lived with winter weather in the US to come. The commodity is nearing the recent highs above $99/barrel.
