Presidents Day and markets being closed as such. European stock markets were mixed, with the DAX up 0.6%, but the CAC 40 and FTSE 100 unchanged. This morning in Asia, risk appetite improved with Asian indices trading along with USD/JPY. 

Yesterday was a very quiet session due to the US celebrating Presidents Day and markets being closed as such. European stock markets were mixed, with the DAX up 0.6%, but the CAC 40 and FTSE 100 unchanged. This morning in Asia, risk appetite improved with Asian indices trading along with USD/JPY.

The Dollar was largely unchanged for most of the day, while today it has strengthened versus most majors. EUR/USD is trading again under 1.06, reaching lows of 1.0575 as polls indicated that French far right candidate LePen is gaining more in the polls. LePen is a Eurosceptic and indicated that would withdraw from Euro Area if elected. EUR dropped 2% this month.

The Australian dollar slipped 0.3 percent to $0.7666, moving away from last week’s three-month high of $0.7732 but underpinned by firm commodity prices.

Crude oil prices nudged higher as investors continued the tug of war between supply around the world. With the US market closed for President’s Day, liquidity was significantly lower than normal in the oil market.

Gold prices reversed last Friday’s losses amid low liquidity. Without any major economic releases or signals from the currency markets, gold is likely to trade sideways.

PMI data will be the main focus today. Eurozone, Germany and France will release both manufacturing and services PMI in European session. US will also release PMI manufacturing and services.