Mixed week for these European currencies, with the euro coming out as a net loser (likely on another round of net negative business sentiment reads from the Euro area), while the Swiss franc barely comes out as a net winner on counter currency flows.
The Euro
European Headlines and Economic data
Monday:
- Merkel’s Party Plays Hardball With Coalition Future in Doubt
- Eurozone manufacturing PMI improves to three-month high, but signals ongoing contraction
- German Manufacturing PMI climbs to five-month high but remains firmly in contraction territory
- Fastest rise in French manufacturing output for five months
- Bear with me,’ new ECB boss Lagarde urges lawmakers
Tuesday:
- France and EU say primed to retaliate over U.S. tariff threat
- ECB’s Visco favours bond buys over rate cuts: Handelsblatt
- Industrial producer prices up by 0.1% in both euro area and EU28
Wednesday:
- Stagnant new work limits Eurozone private sector growth in November.
- German business activity growth ticks higher but remains modest
- French services activity growth eases in November
Thursday:
- German Orders Resume Slide, Defying Hope for Factory Rebound
- Volume of retail trade down by 0.6% in euro area; Down by 0.4% in EU28
- GDP up by 0.2% and employment up by 0.1% in the euro area; In the EU28, GDP up by 0.3% and employment by 0.1%
- Euro zone growth curbed by trade, retail sales sharply
Friday:
The Swiss Franc
Swiss Headlines and Economic data
Monday:
- Swiss retail trade turnover rose slightly in October 2019
- The procure.ch Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell by 0.6 points in November compared to the previous month
Tuesday:
- Swiss Consumer prices fell by 0.1% in November
- Global risk sentiment seemed to have been on an upswing for the first couple of days after positive news from China that included a better-than-expected read on Chinese manufacturing activity from over the weekend, as well as news that China spared trade in their first retaliation to the U.S.’s Hong Kong law. So, it was rather odd that the Swiss franc was able to pull out net gains, especially given that Swiss data was arguably net negative this week.
Wednesday:
- The broad move lower in the Swiss franc was likely attributed to a rise in positive global risk sentiment on a positive manufacturing survey read from China (Chinese Caixin services PMI up from 51.1 to 53.5 vs. 51.2 forecast in Nov) and net positive business sentiment reads from Europe, especially Germany (German business activity growth ticks higher but remains modest)
