Euro troubled, aussie and kiwi stay resilient

EUR/USD is trading down 0.9% to 1.0830 currently and there doesn’t seem to be much reprieve in general for the single currency at the moment. Sure, the SNB may have stepped in with some verbal intervention and that has helped EUR/CHF to erase its earlier declines to turn flat at 1.0020 but it isn’t much.

The woes for the euro are continuing and the technical outlook is rather bleak as outlined here.

Looking elsewhere, the dumping of EUR/USD and the whole risk aversion flows are both continuing to keep the dollar bid. USD/JPY is up 0.2% to 115.06 with Treasury yields recovering a little on the day. 10-year yields are up 2 bps now to 1.74%.

Stocks though are continuing to be pressured lower, with European indices set for another awful day after last week’s plunge. The DAX is down another 3.6% and set to signal a bear market (drop of 20% from its January closing high).

Going back to FX, the aussie and the kiwi continue to be among the outperformers despite their general association as risk currencies.

I can only point to surging commodity prices and their geographic exclusion – for the most part – from the Russia-Ukraine situation as being key factors in keeping the currencies afloat. But surely with skyrocketing energy prices, there will be economic spillovers one way or another.

AUD/USD is trading up 0.4% still near 0.7400 but is off earlier highs of 0.7440. The technical breakout above the key trendline resistance and 200-day moving average still looks solid though:

Meanwhile, NZD/USD is up 0.2% to 0.6875 but that is off earlier highs of 0.6925, having neared a test of its own 200-day moving average @ 0.6929: