Asia Pacific Market Open – Mario Draghi, Euro, US Dollar, S&P 500, GBP/USD
- US Dollar[1] gained against most as ECB’s Mario Draghi Sunk EUR/USD[2] closer towards support
- British Pound[3] headed lower too, but Australian Dollar[4] gained as Europe & US stocks recovered
- S&P 500[5] futures pointing lower after weak earnings from Amazon, Alphabet. Will Asia follow?
We released our 4Q forecasts for equtiies in the DailyFX Trading Guides page[6]
The US Dollar edged cautiously higher against most of its major counterparts Thursday, propelled by weakness in the Euro[7]. All eyes were on ECB’s President Mario Draghi following a widely expected status quo rate decision. Mr. Draghi delivered rather dovish commentary[8], adding that incoming data ‘has been weaker than expected’.
Simultaneously, we also saw weakness in the British Pound which may have also been as a result of a surge in the greenback. Mario Draghi also cited that notable risks include Brexit, trade and Italy. Speaking of Brexit, Sterling found additional weakness later when reports crossed the wires that negotiations were said to be on hold. UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s cabinet appears to be having issues on agreement.
One currency that managed well against USD[9] was the pro-risk Australian Dollar which got a boost from a recovery in European and US benchmark stock indexes as expected[10]. The DAX[11] and S&P 500 gained around 1.03% and 1.86% respectively. The former was boosted as upbeat earnings report from Microsoft
