EURUSD, H1
EURUSD has settled to near net unchanged levels near 1.1750 after ebbing back from a 1.1781 high, which was set in early London trading. Dollar weakness had been a driver earlier, and the currency has seen recouped lost ground. Uncertainties prevail about next month’s US election and the risk that it will be contested, about the Brexit endgame, and, increasingly, about new Covid restrictions and lockdowns in North America and, more especially, Europe. More dovish remarks have come from ECB policymakers, who have recently made known their concern about the recent rise in the euro’s effective exchange rate, given its tightening impact on real interest rates at a time when new Covid restrictions are crimping economic activity. ECB’s Schnabel also warned about credit cycle risks further down the track, especially when support measures are withdrawn, which could equally be applied to the UK, the US and many other economies given the large debt levels that have been built up over the last decade.
Overall, there is no strong directional bias at play in EURUSD at the current juncture. New positive Covid test outcomes continue to shoot up in Europe, but the rate of serious illness (as measured by ICU admissions) and mortality rates remain at low levels, although bumping up in many countries, as indeed are the same metrics for other respiratory disease in the usual seasonal pattern. Tentatively, there is little sign as yet that another big wave impact on public health, as witnessed in March and April in Europe, is happening. But most governments are nervous and firmly set on pursuing virus-suppression-until-vaccine strategies. Northern states in the US, as in Canada, are also seeing spikes in positive Covid tests, which is also leading to the implementation of new restrictions. Weekly jobless claims data and Fed speakers will feature later in the US along with a keynote speech from the BOC’s Macklem.
USDCAD posted a 17-day low at 1.3228, weighed on by a combo of US Dollar weakness and a 1% rise in oil prices. On Canada’s domestic front, rising positive Covid tests are becoming a problem as they are leading to economically disruptive restrictions. Canada’s September employment report is up on Friday, where expectations are for a 100,000 headline gain after the 245,800 rise in August, with unemployment seen ebbing to 10.0% from 10.2%.
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Stuart Cowell
Head Market Analyst
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