Latest data from the Mortgage Bankers Association for the week ending 20 August 2021
–  -3.9%
– Market index 737.1 vs 725.4 prior
– Purchase index 257.5 vs 249.9 prior
A modest increase in mortgage activity, helped by both a rise in purchases and refinancing in the past week. There are still concerns about high valuations in the property

Dollar inches a little higher again, US futures dip a little into negative territory
S&P 500 futures are now down 3 points or about 0.1% and the dollar is picking up slight gains again as seen at the start of the morning, but once again the moves aren’t anything to shout about as they are keeping

It is a quiet one with little notable moves in the market
European indices are sitting a bit more mixed but little changed on the session so far, while US futures are holding very mild gains with S&P 500 futures up 2.5 points or 0.06% as the market lacks any firm direction today.

The fresh measures will go into effect from Friday through to 12 September
The expansion will now cover Hokkaido, Miyagi, Gifu, Aichi, Mie, Shiga, Okayama and Hiroshima, all of which have already been under a pseudo-state of emergency. In total, that puts 21 prefectures under a state of emergency across the country.

de Guindos says they could so so in the next few days
– Third quarter indicators are positive
That’s some confidence given the threat posed by supply disruptions, rising cost pressures, and the delta variant. The latter may not be too concerning for Europe given the high vaccination rates but it does compound the problems on the

Forex news from the European trading session – 24 August 2021
Headlines:
Markets:
– NZD leads, EUR lags on the day
– European equities mixed; S&P 500 futures up 0.2%

Fauci remarks on the COVID-19 vaccine full approval process
This follows the news from yesterday for Pfizer. In case you missed it:

Goldman Sachs raises odds on a Fed taper announcement at its November meeting from 25% to 45%
As such, the firm lowers odds of an announcement in December from 55% to 35%.

NZD/USD trades up 0.8% to 0.6945
Remarks by RBNZ policymaker Christian Hawkesby earlier in the day (↑) have been a key factor in propping the kiwi up in European morning trade.

A look at what is on the board for today
A couple of large ones to take note of on the day, as highlighted in .
bold
For USD/JPY, there is a relatively big one near the current spot price at 109.65 with the more significant one closer to 109.90-00 likely to limit price action before rolling off.