Entering into US session, European majors are the weakest ones today. Euro dips notably after ECB left interest rate unchanged and revised forward guidance. It will now keep interest rates at present level through the end of 2019, prolonged from summer of 2019. Also a new round of quarterly TLTRO-III is announced. These are actually not surprising given the deterioration in Eurozone outlook. Focus will turn to ECB President Mario Draghi’s press conference and new economic projections. Sterling in the currency markets, Sterling is the weakest as there is sign of any breakthrough in Irish backstop impasse. Commodity currencies are generally higher even though outlook for BoC, RBA and RBNZ are all dovish.
In Europe, currently:
- FTSE is down -0.29%.
- DAX is down -0.19%.
- CAC is down -0.06%.
- German 10-year yield is down -0.0165 at 0.113, heading back to 0.1 handle.
Earlier in Asia:
- Nikkei dropped -0.65%.
- Hong Kong HSI dropped -0.89%.
- China Shanghai SSE rose 0.14%.
- Singapore Strait Times rose 0.21%.
- Japan 10-year JGB yield dropped -0.0062 to -0.001.
