How are things shaping up ahead of this month-end
In terms of FX, Citi’s preliminary estimate points to weak USD buying need with the average USD buy signal at 0.35 standard deviations. The only exception is USD/JPY with a signal that slightly exceeds 0.50 standard deviations.

Forex news from the European trading session – 25 May 2021
Headlines:
Markets:
– NZD leads, JPY lags on the day
– European equities higher; S&P 500 futures up 0.4%

Not much of a technical reprieve for Bitcoin so far
While the declines aren’t extending lower this week, upside momentum has also been rather lacking in Bitcoin – at least in any way that matters from a technical perspective.

EUR/USD hovers at its highest levels since January
There was a bout of dollar weakness as European traders entered earlier, helped by the fact that USD/CNH fell below the 6.40 level to its lowest since 2018.

Latest data released by UK CBI – 25 May 2021
A bit of a miss on the headline reading and that suggests some slowing in retail sales after the flurry of demand seen in April after lockdown measures were lifted. CBI notes that:

Remarks by Ifo economist, Klaus Wolhrabe
Ifo report
Besides that, the message is one of optimism towards the outlook in 2H 2021 with many anticipating a summer reopening and travel across the region.

Forex news from the European trading session – 24 May 2021
Headlines:
Markets:
– EUR leads, GBP lags on the day
– European equities mixed; S&P 500 futures up 0.4%

Remarks by BOJ governor, Haruhiko Kuroda, at the BOJ-IMES conference
Mostly token remarks and nothing that really stands out too much as he doesn’t really touch much on policy besides the responses that they undertook in managing the downturn last year and how they have slowly progressed from there.

The chart still isn’t looking pretty though
Bitcoin is up about 8% to around $36,400 currently as it holds a light bounce after the drop over the weekend, which saw a low of $31,111. For now, sentiment does not appear too favourable but things can turn 180° at a snap of a finger in cryptos.

Two key charts to watch for the dollar in the week ahead
The greenback has staved off a further decline towards the end of last week and is holding steadier so far today as well. Major currencies are little changed amid holiday thin trading in Europe but there’s still much to look forward to in the