Eurozone consumers turning cautious - ABN AMRO

Felipe Erazo FXStreet

Analysts at ABN AMRO point out that details of the consumer sentiment survey show that participants planned to increase their savings during the next twelve months.

Key quotes:

"Eurostat published its quarterly Eurozone sector accounts today. They showed that the savings rate of households (gross savings divided by gross disposable income, and therefore the flipside of private consumption) jumped to its highest level in more than four years in 2019Q1, rising to 12.6%, up from 12.1% in 2018Q4."

"This rise in savings seems to mainly reflect higher precautionary savings. Indeed, the details of the European Commission’s consumer sentiment survey show that consumer confidence has fallen since the middle of 2018, particularly because consumers became less positive about the economic outlook and the prospects for the labour market."

"The rise in the savings rate, combined with our expectation that employment growth will slow down in the coming quarters, suggest that private consumption will grow modestly throughout this year."

Author

Felipe Erazo

FXStreet

Born in Colombia, Felipe Erazo is the American Session Manager at FXStreet. He has been studying journalism with a degree in social communication at the Universidad de Chile.

EUR/USD flirts with daily highs, retargets 1.1900

EUR/USD regains upside traction, returning to the 1.1880 zone and refocusing its attention to the key 1.1900 barrier. The pair’s slight gains comes against the backdrop of a humble decline in the US Dollar as investors continue to assess the latest US CPI readings and the potential Fed’s rate path.

GBP/USD remains well bid around 1.3650

GBP/USD maintains its upside momentum in place, hovering around daily highs near 1.3650 and setting aside part of the recent three-day drop. Cable’s improved sentiment comes on the back of the Greenback’s irresolute price action, while recent hawkish comments from the BoE’s Pill also collaborate with the uptick.

Gold clings to gains just above $5,000/oz

Gold is reclaiming part of the ground lost on Wednesday’s marked decline, as bargain-hunters keep piling up and lifting prices past the key $5,000 per troy ounce. The precious metal’s move higher is also underpinned by the slight pullback in the US Dollar and declining US Treasury yields across the curve.

Crypto Today: Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP in choppy price action, weighed down by falling institutional interest

Bitcoin's upside remains largely constrained amid weak technicals and declining institutional interest. Ethereum trades sideways above $1,900 support with the upside capped below $2,000 amid ETF outflows.

Week ahead – Data blitz, Fed Minutes and RBNZ decision in the spotlight

US GDP and PCE inflation are main highlights, plus the Fed minutes. UK and Japan have busy calendars too with focus on CPI. Flash PMIs for February will also be doing the rounds. RBNZ meets, is unlikely to follow RBA’s hawkish path.

Ripple Price Forecast: XRP potential bottom could be in sight

Ripple edges up above the intraday low of $1.35 at the time of writing on Friday amid mixed price actions across the crypto market. The remittance token failed to hold support at $1.40 the previous day, reflecting risk-off sentiment amid a decline in retail and institutional sentiment.