ForexLive European FX news wrap: Dollar begins to flex its muscles again 0 (0)

Headlines:

Markets:

  • JPY leads, NZD lags on the day
  • European equities lower; S&P 500 futures down 0.2%
  • US 10-year yields up 2.9 bps to 3.747%
  • Gold down 0.5% to $1,958.93
  • WTI crude up 1.0% to $72.75
  • Bitcoin up 1.6% to $27,331

Euro area PMI data reaffirmed growth in the economy in May, albeit at a slower pace amid a further divergence between the manufacturing and services sectors. The former is seen slumping while the latter is holding up and on the balance of things, is keeping recession risks at bay for now.

The euro was steadier early on but ultimately bowed down to the dollar as the greenback pulled higher in European morning trade.

EUR/USD stuck around 1.0790 levels before easing to 1.0770 while GBP/USD slipped from around 1.2420 to 1.2375 as the dollar flexed its muscles. The bid in the dollar is helped out by higher Treasury yields again, with equities looking more cautious on the day as well.

That is putting pressure on the antipodeans, with AUD/USD down 0.5% to 0.6620 and NZD/USD down 0.5% to 0.6250 currently.

Elsewhere, gold is marked down by 0.6% to below $1,960 while silver is being beaten up badly in a over 2% drop to $23.13 – its lowest levels since the end of March.

It’s now over to US PMI data later to see if the market mood will carry on in the session ahead.

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

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BOE’s Bailey: We are nearer to the peak on interest rates 0 (0)

  • Rate hikes must be conducted carefully
  • Cannot try to fight inflation with very severe increase in rates
  • We do have a challenge in how we communicate

Meanwhile, BOE policymaker, Catherine Mann, is out saying that they can’t make a judgment on peak interest rates yet. Adding that the situation is data dependent. Geez. In any case, markets have adjusted higher their view on BOE rates in the past week, with the curve now seeing a peak at around 5.01%.

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

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Crypto attracts buyer interest, but reversal needs proof 0 (0)

Market picture

Crypto
market capitalisation rose 1.4% over the last 24 hours to $1.138 trillion.
After quiet trading on Monday, most gains came on Tuesday morning. The timing
of the move is due to news on the US debt ceiling, where there is no deal yet,
but Biden notes progress in negotiations. Ether is up 2.3% at $1856, with the
top altcoins gaining between 0.3% (Solana) and 3% (Polygon).

Bitcoin is
up 1.6% over the past day to $27.3K and earlier today climbed close to $27.5K,
the upper end of the range since the 15th. Despite the positive momentum, the
daily timeframes remain bearish, with Bitcoin trading below $27.5K.

According to
CoinShares, investments in cryptocurrency funds fell for the fifth consecutive
week to $32 million last week, with bitcoin investments down $33 million and
Ethereum investments down $1 million. Investment in funds that allow shorts on
Bitcoin fell by $1.3 million.

According to
Santiment, the number of BTC and ETH on exchanges has fallen to its lowest
level in several years, which is seen as a sign of an attitude towards
long-term holding.

News background

Mott Capital
Management founder Michael Kramer warned that Bitcoin could fall to $20K.
According to him, BTC is a leading indicator for all risky assets, so its
decline would be negative for the stock market.

Anthony
Scaramucci, founder of hedge fund SkyBridge Capital, believes that the actual
value of Bitcoin should now be $40K. According to him, we are now witnessing a
global proliferation of BTCs, similar to what happened in the late 1990s with
the rise of the internet.

Cryptocurrency
platform Bakkt is considering expanding its business in Europe in light of the
Crypto Asset Market Regulation Act (MiCA) passed in April. Bakkt currently only
offers services in the US.

US lawmakers
have drafted a bipartisan bill prohibiting the Fed from issuing the digital
dollar (CBDC). Lawmakers cited Americans‘ right to financial privacy.

This article was written by FxPro’s Senior Market Analyst Alex Kuptsikevich.

This article was written by FxPro FXPro at www.forexlive.com.

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AUDUSD Technical Analysis 0 (0)

On the daily chart below for
AUDUSD, we can see that the price has recently sold off from the top of the
range and it’s now approaching the support at 0.6563. AUDUSD has been
trading within this range since the Silicon Valley Bank collapse in March, so
it hasn’t done much for 3 months now.

The USD recently started to
appreciate across the board as strong economic data suggest that the Fed may
have to do more on the interest rates front and the market is slowly pricing in
higher and higher chances of another hike in June.

AUDUSD Technical Analysis

On the 4 hour chart below, we can
see that once the price broke below the trendline, the sellers piled in
aggressively. We got a bounce recently that ended up in a continuation from the
38.2% Fibonacci
retracement
level as expected. The AUD/USD price has now
started to diverge with the MACD and since we are near the bottom
of the range, this may be an early signal of a weakening bearish momentum that
will translate into a correction from the 0.6563 support.

On the 1 hour chart below, we can
see that the price action has formed a falling
wedge
pattern. When the price breaks out to the upside, it generally rallies
to the top of the pattern, which in this case would be the 0.67 handle. AUD/USD
needs to break below the 0.6537 support with conviction and supported by
fundamentals to invalidate this pattern and lead to an even stronger selloff.

Meanwhile, the bearish bias remains,
and we should see the price getting to the 0.66 support first and 0.6563 after.
Watch out for the US
PMIs
today as a beat should give the USD another boost, while a miss should
weaken it.

This article was written by ForexLive at www.forexlive.com.

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Gold erases Friday bounce amid higher dollar, yields 0 (0)

The dollar is gaining further ground now in European morning trade and among the bigger losers today is gold. The yellow metal is down 0.7% to just under $1,956 currently as it erases the advance from Friday. Gold is now threatening a steeper fall towards its 100-day moving average (red line) once again:

That level comes in at around $1,931 and will be a key technical support to watch alongside the 50.0 Fib retracement level at around $1,935.

With 10-year Treasury yields breaking higher, there might be scope for gold prices to correct further in the days/weeks ahead. However, as mentioned before, I’d still be one for dip buying in the bigger picture but you have to pick your fights.

Looking at precious metals, gold isn’t quite the biggest loser today as we are seeing silver get hammered down by over 2% to $23.13 at the moment:

The double top pattern just above $26 was already an ominous signal before the break of the neckline around $24.65 came about. After that, it has been rather one-way traffic with the only the declines last week being halted by the 100-day moving average (red line).

That level has now been broken and could set up a sharper drop in silver next.

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

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ForexLive European FX news wrap: Dollar mixed in quiet start to the week 0 (0)

Headlines:

Markets:

  • CHF leads, JPY lags on the day
  • European equities lower; S&P 500 futures flat
  • US 10-year yields flat at 3.678%
  • Gold down 0.2% to $1,972.01
  • WTI crude up 0.1% to $71.62
  • Bitcoin down 0.1% to $26,803

It was a quiet session for the most part with a lack of key economic releases not really helping with the mood in Europe. The dollar saw its gains last week checked back on Friday and it was more of the same story today.

The greenback traded more mixed across the board as US debt ceiling concerns continue to work its way through markets. EUR/USD is marginally lower at 1.0810-20 levels as buyers look to push back against a break below its 100-day moving average last week, though upside is capped nearer to the 100-hour moving average for now.

USD/JPY was also largely more tepid around 137.80-90 earlier before Fed’s Kashkari offered up a nudge higher for the pair and bond yields, moving up to 138.20 levels at the moment. That is now helping the pair to build on last week’s break after a bit of a check back early on today and on Friday.

Meanwhile, the franc is the lead gainer as USD/CHF fails to make its way past 0.9000 in a drop back to 0.8960 currently.

Elsewhere, with equities also looking fairly tentative and tepid, the antipodeans aren’t up to much with AUD/USD down 0.2% to 0.6635 and NZD/USD little changed at around 0.6275 on the day.

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

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Fed’s Kashkari: It’s a close call on whether to raise or pause in June 0 (0)

  • Not seeing evidence that banking stress is doing Fed’s job on inflation
  • Fed has to keep going in battle against inflation
  • Services inflation seems „pretty darn entrenched“
  • It may be that we have to go north of 6% but that isn’t clear yet

There seems to be some differing opinions at the Fed currently but the remark on 6% rates is certainly reflective of more hawkish sentiment than what markets are thinking right now. USD/JPY is at the highs for the day now at 138.09 currently.

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

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Gold waits on dollar direction for next move 0 (0)

Similar to EUR/USD and USD/JPY last week, it looked like gold was facing a technical break lower as price fell through the support region of $1,975-81. However, with the dollar getting checked back on Friday and in trading today, we are seeing price action consolidate a little as traders call into question the breakout move from last week.

The US debt ceiling talks seem to be the main focus in markets at the moment and that is arguably keeping dollar gains in check. Now, gold is trading back towards the broken support region of $1,975-81 and so buyers are not quite throwing in the towel just yet.

However, looking at the near-term chart:

It is proving to be a similar case for gold as it is in EUR/USD here. The minor bounce today ran into a test of its 100-hour moving average (red line) and that key level is holding for now. In technical terms, sellers are still in near-term control as such. And it would require buyers to break above that to open up some room to work with between that and the $2,000 mark again.

So, while the downside break is being questioned right now, sellers are still hanging on in there as they hold at the key near-term level pointed out above – now seen at $1,980.38 roughly. Keep below that and the near-term bias remains more bearish but break above and the bias will turn more neutral instead.

But as we can see with other dollar pairs right now, the technical picture is more or less the same. This suggests that dollar sentiment is the key driver of trading conditions currently so it is best to keep the focus on factors impacting that i.e. debt talks, Fedspeak, US economic data.

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

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Nasdaq Composite Technical Analysis 0 (0)

On the daily chart below for the
Nasdaq, we can see that we got the first negative close last Friday after
several big positive days. The culprit was a negative
news
about debt ceiling talks being at a stalemate. We can also see that the
rally stalled at an old swing level that should act as resistance going
forward.

The Nasdaq should still have an
upward bias as the bullish
flag
pattern is still playing out perfectly. As things stand, we may keep on
trading on the classic “buy the rumour” playbook as the market expects that
eventually the debt ceiling will be raised. The target of the bullish flag is
the 13000 area with the 13174 high being a nice level to look at.

Nasdaq Technical Analysis

On the 4 hour chart below, we can
see that the month long range beneath the strong 12274 resistance was breached and once the price
retested the broken resistance
turned support
, the Nasdaq rallied strongly to the next
resistance at 12660. We now have a trendline that will act as support in case
the Nasdaq makes a deeper pullback to the downside.

On the 1 hour chart below, we can
see that in case we get a pullback from here, the downside should be limited
for the Nasdaq. In fact, we have a minor trendline and Fibonacci
retracement
levels that will act as support for the buyers
looking to position for another rally towards the 13000 level. On an even
deeper correction, the buyers should be leaning on the major trendline and the
12274 support as the last line of defence.

The sellers, on the other hand,
are likely to pile in if the Nasdaq breaks below the minor trendline targeting
the major one. If the price falls below the major trendline, then the sellers
should really come in aggressively and target the 11900 support.

This article was written by ForexLive at www.forexlive.com.

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EUR/USD nudges a little higher as downside break gets called into question 0 (0)

EUR/USD is up 0.2% to 1.0825 currently, sitting near the highs for the day. The range today may be relatively narrow still but buyers are seen making a play once again as they contest the 100-hour moving average:

The key level has been a solid near-term spot for sellers to lean on in driving the pair lower from 1.1000 to just below 1.0800 last week. That also resulted in a break below its 100-day moving average, but now that move in itself is being called into question as highlighted earlier today here.

This is certainly keeping things interesting to start the new week and a hold above the 100-hour moving average noted above, will allow for buyers to wrestle back some near-term control. That will open up some room for price action to roam in between that (now at 1.0823) and the 200-hour moving average, now at 1.0867.

As highlighted in the linked post above, this isn’t the only dollar pair which is seeing its breakout move called into question. USD/JPY is also trading flattish at 137.90 now but is seeing its break above 138.00 last week get checked back at the moment.

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

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