Forex news from the European trading session – 13 October 2020
Headlines:
Markets:
– NZD leads, GBP lags on the day
– European equities mixed; S&P 500 futures down 0.1%

Comments by UK foreign secretary, Dominic Raab
– Hopeful of closing gap in talks for a Brexit deal
The Brexit see-saw continues as the UK reaffirms hope and optimism for something to get done this week while the EU maintains that progress has been lackluster thus far.

Further comments by EU chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier
The headline remark is perhaps what is weighing slightly on the pound now as we see cable fall from 1.3050 to 1.3025 currently. The low today was at 1.3016 with yesterday’s low at 1.3005 another level to take note of in case sellers try to make a

Comments by ECB governing council member, Klaas Knot
– Economic damage from second virus wave probably less dramatic than first wave
– Too early to say if ECB emergency support measures need to be extended
Knot may be a perennial hawk on the ECB board but the comments above pretty much reflects the wait-and-see approach the central bank

BOJ governor, Haruhiko Kuroda, with some remarks
– Won’t hesitate to ease further if necessary
– BOJ is open-minded, flexible
– Closely monitoring the impact of the coronavirus
The usual stuff by Kuroda but as much as he wants to boast about their policy toolkit, there isn’t much else they can do to restore faith about achieving a 2%

Comments by ECB president, Christine Lagarde
here
here

EUR/USD testing waters below 1.1800 once again
The dollar is advancing slightly on the session, as we see EUR/USD start to move back towards the 1.1800 handle as the pair falls to a session low of 1.1795.

ONS announced a revision to their methodology in capturing the jobs data
announcement
So, this will be a heads up to the jobs report for August tomorrow, where the unemployment rate is expected at 4.3% – in case the reading comes quite far off that.

Lagarde will be participating in a virtual event hosted by the IMF
She will be speaking as part of the IMF’s ‚Governor Talk‘ series, where she will be discussing about the post-pandemic landscape and challenges for policymakers in Europe. The event is scheduled for 1100 GMT later today.

Trade idea from Mitsubishi UFJ
MUFG recommends selling EUR/AUD with a target of 1.5900 and a stop at 1.6700. The pair closed the week at 1.6333.
„We are recommending a short EUR/USD trade idea to reflect in part the recent divergence in the spread of COVID-19 which will have implications for relative economic performance going forward,“ analysts