Germany expects 2020 contraction won’t be as severe as feared – Bloomberg

Dhwani Mehta FXStreet

The German government forecasts is expected to show that the economic blow due to the coronavirus pandemic this year is likely to be less severe than previously expected, Bloomberg reports, citing a person familiar with the updated outlook to be published Tuesday.

Additional points

“Germany predicted in April that the economy would contract by 6.3% in 2020, it's worst recession since the nation began a recovery after World War II, before rebounding with a growth of 5.2% next year.

The German government will revise up its forecast for 2020 gross domestic product to a decline of less than 6

It will also revise down its growth prediction for next year.”

EUR/USD consolidates the upside

EUR/USD consolidates the advance to multi-year highs of 1.1998, as the US dollar continues to remain on the back foot amid the upbeat market mood.

At the press time, the major adds 0.29% to trade at 1.1968, digesting the below-estimate Spanish final Manufacturing PMI.

Author

Dhwani Mehta

FXStreet

Residing in Mumbai (India), Dhwani is a Senior Analyst and Manager of the Asian session at FXStreet. She has over 10 years of experience in analyzing and covering the global financial markets, with specialization in Forex and commodities markets.

GBP/USD clings to daily gains near 1.3550

GBP/USD adds to Friday’s advance, briefly hitting three-month tops near 1.3570 before edging lower on Monday. Fading expectations of a Fed rate hike in September weigh on the Greenback, helping Cable to keep its bullish momentum ahead of the release of the UK jobs report on Tuesday.

EUR/USD: Gains appear capped by 1.1600

EUR/USD consolidates its daily gains well north of the 1.1500 hurdle following the closing bell on Wall Street on Monday. The pair’s multi-day bounce comes on the back of renewed selling pressure on the US Dollar investors continue to trim bets of Fed rate hikes. Moving forward, Germany’s ZEW prints are due on Tuesday alongside a slew of US hard data.

Gold loses some traction, still above $4,400

Gold faces some loss of momentum and slips back toward the vicinity of the $4,400 mark per troy ounce on Monday. The yellow metal adds to Friday’s uptick and its positive performance follows the steady offered stance in the US Dollar amid dwindling bets for further tightening by the Fed in the next few months.

Strategy pauses Bitcoin sales, increases USD Reserve to $4.8 billion

Bitcoin (BTC) treasury firm Strategy (MSTR) increased its USD Reserve to $4.8 billion after raising $333.7 million through common stock sales, while also repurchasing $132.2 million of its STRC preferred shares, according to a Form 8-K filing on Monday. Strategy sold 3.458 million shares of its Class A common stock, MSTR, last week, generating $333.7 million in net proceeds.

Economists agree: Fed to leave interest rates unchanged this year – Reuters poll

A large majority of economists expect the Federal Reserve (Fed) to keep interest rates unchanged in September and for the rest of this year, according to a Reuters poll conducted between August 12 and 17.

Why is Crude Oil priced for a reopening the ships haven't made?

Fourteen vessels crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday. Before the war, the count ran near 120 a day. In the sessions since the waterway was publicly declared open, Brent has drifted back to $87 and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) to $81, both a little lower again on Wednesday, with daily momentum on each unwound from the top of its range in late July to the low twenties now.