Market Drivers – US Session – Tuesday, July 19

Mohamed Abdelhamid 20 July, 2022 4:09 am Commodities, Forex Market, Global Stock Market, Market Update

The EUR/USD pair soared to 1.0268 on headlines suggesting the European Central Bank could discuss a 50 bps rate hike when it meets this week.

Economic Data

The data published by the US Census Bureau revealed on Tuesday that Housing Starts declined by 2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,685,000. Building Permits fell by 0.6% in the same period following the 7% contraction reported in May.

Also on Tuesday, UK employment figures were generally positive, as the unemployment rate held steady at 3.8% while the number of people claiming unemployment benefits decreased to -20K.

Other Developments

The European Commission decided to ease some of the sanctions on Russian banks to allow food trade. Finally, headlines suggested that Russian gas giant Gazprom would resume its gas provision to the EU as planned on July 21. Overall, recession concerns cooled a bit, but the picture is still gloomy, and optimism may soon fade.

Bank of England Governor Bailed said that if policymakers see signs of greater persistence of inflation, and price and wage setting are such signs, they would have to act forcefully. GBP/USD surged to 1.2045 but settled a few pips below the 1.2000 threshold.

The dollar edged lower vs the CHF, with the pair plunging to 0.9652. USD/JPY posted a modest advance and settled at 138.19. Commodity-linked currencies were firmly up on the day, with the AUD/USD pair trading around the 0.6900 figure and USD/CAD pressuring daily lows in the 1.2870 price zone. As for the US Treasury yield curve, it has remained inverted for the twelfth day.

The American dollar remained under selling pressure, falling to fresh July lows against most major rivals. The dollar sell-off was coupled with some optimistic news coming from Europe.
Gold Price remained unchanged for a third consecutive day, trading around $1,710 a troy ounce. Oil prices were up, with WTI now at $100.60 a barrel. Stocks posted substantial gains in Europe and the US, hinting at gains in their Asian counterparts.

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