It was an extremely light week of news and headlines from Europe, but both the euro and Swiss franc ended up as net winners. This was likely due to a combination of continued improving European sentiment and late week global risk aversion sentiment.
The Euro
European Headlines and Economic data
Monday:
The Sentix overall index for the eurozone economy climbed by +4.8 to -13.4 points
French economic activity runs 7% below normal level in July – Bank of France
German firms expect public life to be restricted for a further 8.5 months – Ifo
Tuesday:
Economic sentiment in Germany recovers in August: ZEW
Wednesday:
Thursday:
German Wholesale prices in July 2020: -2.6% on July 2019
German Inflation rate at -0.1% in July 2020
Germany: Optimistic we’ll have a vaccine in coming months and certainly next year
Friday:
Euro area international trade in goods surplus €21.2 bn; €20.7 bn surplus for EU
Young people are driving a second, less-deadly surge of Covid-19 cases in Europe
The Swiss Franc
Swiss Headlines and Economic data
Monday:
Swiss unemployment rate remained at 3.2% in July
We saw broad weakness for both the euro and franc to start the week, likely driven by global risk sentiment which was leaning positive off of better-than-expected Chinese data.
Tuesday:
Strong turn lower for both the franc and euro during the U.S. session on global risk sentiment once again. This time it on positive vaccine headlines (Russia has registered the world’s first coronavirus vaccine, J&J eyes one billion doses of potential COVID-19 shot in 2021) that had traders running away from safe haven assets.
Wednesday:
The Swiss franc had a strong upside move on the session, likely shadowing the euro higher after improving European industrial production data.
Friday:
The Swiss Producer and Import Price Index rose in July 2020 by 0.1% m/m
The Swiss franc and euro maintained their gains into the weekend, likely driven by broad risk aversion sentiment as the U.S. Congress fails to strike a deal on a new U.S. stimulus package, and possibly on low confidence that the recent rebound in economic activity is sustainable given the spike in coronavirus cases around the world.