Europe Summary and Highlights 18 August
The USD was mixed through the European morning, gaining ground against the EUR, with EUR/USD dropping 30 pips to 1.1675, but unchanged against the JPY.
European morning session
The USD was mixed through the European morning, gaining ground against the EUR, with EUR/USD dropping 30 pips to 1.1675, but unchanged against the JPY. The USD was also slightly higher against GBP, AUD and CHF, although these all also gained against the EUR. However, USD/CAD was slightly lower on the session, dipping below 1.38.
There was little news of note. The main data was the Euro area trade balance which decreased compared to May 2025, with the surplus falling from €16.5 bn to €7.0 bn. This decline was mainly driven by a drop in the surplus of chemicals and related products, which fell from €24.4 bn to €15.1 bn, and was larger than expected, with the consensus expecting a 13bn surplus. However, this may still reflect a correction from the big increase in the Q1 surplus due to the front-running of tariffs. EUR/USD didn’t react significantly to the data, with the decline coming before the release.
Asia session
Despite Trump rolling out the red carpet for Putin, there does not seem to be much progress between the two countries. Zelensky and the EU leaders will be meeting with Trump on Monday, yet they seem to be fearful of Trump's change of stance. USD/JPY is trading 0.16% higher at 147.35 as sentiment broadly positive.
The broader risk sentiment is upbeat on Monday with little market moving headline after Trump-Putin's meet. U.S. three majority indexes are all in the green with regional equities outperforming. The USD is mostly softer against majors. AUD/USD is trading 0.2% higher at 0.6520, NZD/USD is trading 0.31% higher at 0.5940 while USD/CAD slips 0.13%. Else, EUR/USD is up 0.03% and GBP/USD is up 0.07%.