Another quiet day on the economic data front is ahead, with Europe and the US offering just a handful of second-tier releases. ECB President Mario Draghi may cause a stir however. He is scheduled to speak at the Dutch parliament. A dovish tone that clashes with a recent upshift in interest rate expectations may weigh on the Euro. The markets now see better-than-even odds of a rate hike in the first quarter of 2018.
Meanwhile, EU ambassadors will gather for a Brexit strategy meeting in Brussels. The goal of the sit-down will be to hammer out a mandate for negotiation before next month’s UK election. Rhetoric on both sides of the English Channel has grown testy recently. More of the same this time around may broadly weigh on European currencies and might spill over into broader risk aversion, boosting the Yen.
The US Dollar corrected broadly lower in Asian trade having outperformed against its major counterparts in the prior session. The Australian Dollar led the way higher, tracking its local ASX 200 stock index upward. That seems to suggest that improved risk appetite catalyzed the often sentiment-linked currency. Chinese inflation figures passed with little fanfare.
Asia Session
European Session
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