Morning brief for June 7
There is lots of anxiety ahead of Thursday’s events. Nervous investors streamed into low-risk bonds and other safe-haven assets ruled by fears of Britain general election, the ECB policy meeting and James Comey’s testimony, all planned for Thursday.
The US dollar weakness reverberated across the trading desk on Tuesday. The yen was a great outperformer. It strengthened to 109.20 yesterday. In Tokyo morning, the USD regained its strength and popped a little higher to 109.55.
EUR/USD acted in the similar pattern. Yesterday, the single currency picked higher due to weaker USD. In the Asian session, it fell to 1.1265. The ECB meeting will have to decide whether there will a considerable rebound from the present level to the key resistance at 1.1300.
AUD/USD picked up on the positive quarterly GDP out of Australia beating investors’ worst fear. It posted a 0.3% gain which is tiny little comparing the forecasts envisioned by the Reserve Bank of Australia. The undertone for this pair is largely positive. It is trading at 0.7535 and may surge higher at least towards 0.7555/0.7575 levels. Extension beyond the following levels is unlikely.
GBP/USD continues to trade sideways waiting for the major event of this week – the UK general election. Some polls indicate that Conservative party of the incumbent PM Theresa May is on course to increase its parliamentary majority, while others show the narrowing gap between the Tories and Labor. Don’t miss housing prices coming from Halifax Ban of Scotland.
USD/CAD ticked a little bit higher in the Asian session. Today’s focus will be on the Canadian building permits.
Brent crude futures is hovering near $50. It rose overnight due to rising tensions in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, OAE, Bahrain cut links with Qatar having accused it for supporting Islamist groups, Despite the sanctions imposed by the neighboring countries, Qatar pledged to fulfill its obligations under the OPEC agreement.