Markets Today: DXY Hits 7-Week Low, Nikkei Breaches 44000, French Politics in Focus, DAX Steady at Resistance
After seeing gains during regular trading on Monday, European stock futures went down slightly.
Specifically, futures for the EUROSTOXX 50 index dropped by 0.2%. Futures for the FTSE and DAX indexes also dipped, by 0.13% and 0.26% respectively.
Over the last few days, markets have been through several major political events. In Britain, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner resigned, and in Japan, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba stepped down. In France, lawmakers voted to remove Prime Minister Francois Bayrou from office. Argentina’s President Javier Milei’s party faced a significant loss, and Indonesia unexpectedly replaced its long-time finance minister.
Investors in Europe are now waiting to see who French President Emmanuel Macron will choose as the country’s fifth prime minister in less than two years.
So far, Macron has not chosen to call an early election and seems determined to name a new prime minister, potentially from a center-left political party.
There are no rules dictating who Macron must pick or how quickly he has to make the decision, but his office has said he will appoint someone in the next few days.
Despite this political uncertainty, the price of French government bond futures in Asia has changed very little.
On the FX front, the U.S. dollar index dropped to a low of 97.323 during trading in Asia, its weakest point since July 24.
The euro gained 0.1% during trading in Asia, reaching a value of up to 1.1778, which is its highest level since July 24.
The Japanese yen became stronger against the dollar, reversing its weakness from Monday, after Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba resigned. The yen was 0.3% stronger at 147.125 yen to the dollar as people began to speculate on who would be the next leader.
In other currencies, the Australian dollar rose by 0.2% to $0.6606, while the New Zealand dollar also went up by 0.2% to 0.5949. The offshore Chinese yuan was 0.1% stronger at 7.1193 yuan per dollar, and the British pound rose by 0.2% to 1.3576 so far today.
For more on the Euro, read EUR/USD Technical: Euro bullish breakout, what’s next?
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