What you need to know on Friday, July 23:
The dollar closed mostly lower in the currency market on Thursday, although higher against the euro. The ECB was the main event of the day. As widely anticipated, the central bank decided to leave the interest rates on the main refinancing operations, the marginal credit facility and the deposit facility unchanged at 0.00%, 0.25% and -0.50%, respectively. Policymakers reaffirmed that the PEPP would continue to operate significantly faster than at the beginning of the year.
Regarding the long-awaited new prospective orientation, the Governing Council noted that interest rates will remain at current or lower levels “until it sees inflation reach two percent well before the end of its projection horizon and lastingly for the remainder of the projection, and judges that the progress made in core inflation is sufficiently advanced. “
Asian and European stocks advanced, but Wall Street struggled to post modest gains. Softer-than-anticipated US macroeconomic figures affected the market’s mood. US Treasury yields hit new weekly highs, but ended the day in bearish numbers.
The Australian dollar was the best performer among commodity currencies, flirting with the 0.7400 level, while the CAD was the worst, ending the day unchanged against the dollar.
Gold recovered modestly after a soft start to the day, ending the day at around $ 1,807. Crude prices rose steadily and the WTI closed the day at $ 71.80 a barrel.
On Friday, the focus will turn to growth-related data as Markit releases preliminary estimates of its July PMIs for the EU and the US.
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