The European Central Bank press conference yet again was a driving point for Euro trading overnight but unlike earlier in the year when negative interest rates were floated, it was what ECB president Mario Draghi didn’t say. The Euro surged versus its traded peers taking a cent from the Greenback to peak at 1.3606 USD, 80 pips from the Aussie dollar and 40 pips from the Pound. Markets were buoyed by the lack on direct action talk with Draghi leaving all options on the table with the interest rate staying at the current level. The Euro was also helped by Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta winning a confidence vote to keep his government in power.
The Pound losses against the Euro were more subdued than the other major crosses due to its own economy’s performance overnight. Construction data was less than expected but still showed that the sector was growing for the fifth straight month. The Pound took half a cent of the Greenback and then road the euro sentiment up to a high of 1.6250 USD.
The ongoing US funding impasse continues to frustrate global markets and the US dollar struggled overnight with softer jobs numbers weighing on traders leading into tomorrow all important non-farm payroll print. ADP number missed estimates and came in at 166,000 new jobs with last month negatively revised down by 17,000 jobs. The Australian dollar was not one of the most active currencies but did improve to just shy of 94 US cents. Gold rebounded almost $40 from yesterday’s low to be up as high as 1323.86 USD an ounce.
Our local session today is void of any top tier data from home but we do have Chinese non-manufacturing PMI up this morning at 11am and its expected to show further expansion. Activity is likely to pick up in the European session with Services PMI from the UK and retail sales data from Europe.
