Entering into US session, Sterling is now the weakest one for today after BoE kept interest rate unchanged but lowered both growth and inflation forecast. According to the Quarterly Inflation Report, even with the assumption of smooth Brexit, BoE projects to hike only once through Q1 2022. UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s visit to Brussel appears to be rather fruitless too. Canadian Dollar is currently the second weakest one followed by New Zealand Dollar. The latter was weighed down by weaker than expected job data released earlier today. Euro is mixed even though EU slashed 2019 growth forecast by -0.6% to 1.3% only.
At the time of writing, Yen is the strongest one on risk aversion, while Swiss Franc is the second. Both are also helped by sharp decline in German yields. Australian Dollar is the third strongest mainly thanks to weakness elsewhere. Also, Aussie is just taking a breather after yesterday’s steep selloff. Dollar remains generally firm and is set to extend gain against all but Yen, and probably Franc.
In Europe, currently:
- FTSE is down -0.08%.
- DAX is down -1.45%.
- CAC is down -0.82%.
- German 10-year yield is sharply lower by -0.0204 at 0.126.
Earlier in Asia:
- Nikkei dropped -0.59%.
- Japan 10-year yield closed up 0.0069 at -0.009, staying negative.
- Singapore Strait Times rose 0.50%.
- Hong Kong and China were still on holiday.
