Awaiting the ECB Meeting Decision and Press Conference
October 20, 2016
EUR/USD is unchanged ahead of the ECB announcement. A policy change is not expected. Central bank policymakers also reviewed stances in Turkey and Indonesia.
The dollar has strengthened 0.3% against the yen.
Japan’s Nikkei closed 1.4% higher, while the German Dax is up 0.3%.
WTI oil settled back 1.0% to $51.07 per barrel. Comex gold edged up 0.1% to $1,271.10 per ounce.
10-year British gilts and German bund yields climbed four and three basis points. The 10-year JGB eased a basis point.
Australian labor statistics were mixed. The jobless rate fell 0.1 percentage point to 5.6%, but employment dropped 9.8K overall and by 53K among full-time workers. Labor participation fell to 64.5% from 64.7%.
British retail sales posted no gain in September, depressing the 12-month increase to 4.1% from 6.6%.
Euroland’s current account surplus of EUR 29.7 billion in August was the biggest seasonally adjusted surplus since May. The surplus as a percent of GDP widened to 3.3% over the past year versus 3.1% in the 12 months to August 2015.
Scheduled U.S. data to be released today are the Philly Fed manufacturing index, existing home sales and weekly jobless insurance claims.
Copyright 2016, Larry Greenberg. All rights reserved. No secondary distribution without express permission.
Tags: Australian labor statistics, ECB meeting, Ezone current account