Forex Today: Markets turn choppy ahead of key US data
Here is what you need to know on Tuesday, October 25:
Markets stay relatively quiet on Tuesday as investors prepare for the week's key macroeconomic events. The US Dollar Index moves sideways at around 112.00, US stock index futures trade flat and the benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond yield posts modest daily losses near 4.2%. The US economic docket will feature Housing Price Index and S&P/Case Shiller Home Price Indices data. Additionally, the Conference Board will release its Consumer Confidence Index for October.
The S&P Global PMI surveys from the US revealed that business activity in the private sector continued to contract at an accelerating pace in early October. Despite the disappointing data, Wall Street's main indexes gained between 1% and 1.3%.
On Monday, Sir Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 Committee, announced that Rishi Sunak is elected as leader of the Conservative Party and new prime minister following Penny Mordaunt's decision to drop out of the contest. The market reaction to this development was muted as it was widely expected. Meanwhile, Bank of England (BoE) Deputy Governor Dave Ramsden reiterated that they will take necessary steps to get inflation back to the target while adding that they have to take into account the fall in the value of the pound when deciding on the policy. GBP/USD closed modestly lower on Monday and seems to have gone into a consolidation phase near 1.1300 early Tuesday.
Following Monday's volatile action, USD/JPY stayed relatively quiet during the Asian trading hours on Tuesday. Citing Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, a Japanese government official said that the recent "sharp, one-sided yen weakness" was not good for the economy. In the meantime, Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki reiterated that he saw no contradiction between the government's yen-buying currency intervention and the central bank's ultra-loose monetary policy. As of writing, USD/JPY was flat on the day at 149.00.
EUR/USD staged a late rebound on Monday but lost its bullish momentum near 0.9900. The pair trades in a narrow range below that level early Tuesday. The data from Germany showed that the IFO Expectations Index edged higher to 75.6 in October from 75.3 in September, surpassing the market expectation of 75. The IFO Current Assessment Index, however, declined to 94.1 from 94.5 in the same period.
Gold failed to gather bullish momentum on Monday as the 10-year US yield held steady above 4.2%. XAU/USD stays on the backfoot in the early European session on Tuesday and trades below $1,650.
Bitcoin lost more than 1% but ended up closing the day above $19,000 on Monday. BTC/USD was last seen moving sideways near $19,300. Ethereum stays calm slightly above $1,300 on Tuesday after having dropped 1.5% on Monday.