• Australian dollar surrenders gains from stronger CPI data earlier
• What are the odds of a RBA rate hike next month now?
• Bitcoin consolidates gains after ETF ticker fiasco
• Germany October Ifo business climate index 86.9 vs 85.9 expected
• Eurozone September M3 money supply -1.2% vs -1.7% y/y expected
• Switzerland October Credit Suisse investor sentiment -37.8 vs -27.6 prior
• US MBA mortgage applications w.e. 20 October -1.0% vs -6.9% prior
• IMF’s Georgieva: Inflation is still high
• Hong Kong to cut stamp duty on stock trading to 0.10% from 0.13%
• Japan reportedly eyes one-year income, resident tax cuts from June next year

Markets:

• USD leads, NZD lags on the day
• European equities mixed; S&P 500 futures down 0.3%
• US 10-year yields up 1.9 bps to 4.859%
• Gold up 0.2% to $1,973.24
• WTI crude flat at $83.69
• Bitcoin up 1.0% to $34,253

It was a slower session today as traders didn’t have as much to work with in European morning trade compared to yesterday, though there were some decent moves all around.

The Australian dollar was the standout in Asia, advancing after a stronger-than-expected inflation report but gave it all back during the session and then some. This comes as stocks are pinned down, in particular tech shares after a mixed picture from Microsoft and Google’s earnings releases overnight.

AUD/USD was up to near 0.6400 earlier on but is now down 0.3% on the day to 0.6335 as the dollar also firmed slightly.

USD/JPY continues to hover just below 150.00 as Treasury yields keep steadier while EUR/USD is down 0.1% to 1.0575 from around 1.0590 earlier in the session. GBP/USD is marked down by 0.3% to 1.2125 as the greenback is keeping the advance from yesterday going, amid sluggish European PMI data.

Besides that, Bitcoin continues to consolidate gains after a bit of a fiasco with regards to its ETF ticker – keeping above $34,000 for now.

If anything else, watch out for the 5-year Treasury auction later as that could be a catalyst for a move in markets – more so than the BOC and Powell I reckon.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.