A subdued day for financial markets - ANZ

Analysts at ANZ explained that with US markets closed for the Presidents Day holiday and data releases light, it was a subdued day for financial markets.

Key Quotes:

"The USD oscillated in narrow ranges with no clear direction and there was little news of note outside of the euro area current account surplus for 2017 being confirmed at 3.5% of GDP. 

Given that balance of payments backdrop, solid growth momentum and firming forward guidance from the ECB, the backdrop for the euro remains encouraging and sell-offs should be limited. Despite the strong performance of Asian markets, European assets were under pressure. 

The yield on the German 10-year bund rose 3bps to 0.73%, Frances 10-year OAT was up 3.9bps to 0.99% and the benchmark Italian 10-year BTP was up 5bps at 2.03%. 

Equities responded to this weakness in fixed income with Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC off 0.5%, and the UK FTSE 100 off 0.6%.

Oil was firmer with Brent up 0.9% to USD65.4/bbl whilst gold was little changed (+0.1%) at USD1347.2/oz."