ECB’s annual Forum on Central Banking kicks off

Markets remain relatively quiet to start the week as investors turn their attention to the European Central Bank’s annual Forum on Central Banking in Sintra that will kick off with ECB President Christine Lagarde’s speech at 1730 GMT. The US economic docket will feature the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’ Texas Manufacturing Survey. Germany’s IFO Institute will also release business sentiment data for June.

Over the weekend, tensions between the Wagner mercenary group and Russian President Vladimir Putin eased after the sides reached an agreement late Saturday. Meanwhile, “China needs to step up measures as soon as possible to bolster a faltering post-COVID recovery in the world’s second-largest economy,” said Ning Jizhe, deputy head of the economic committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). Nevertheless, S&P Global announced that it lowered its forecast for China’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth to 5.2% from 5.5% this year. Following these developments, investors seem to have adopted a cautious stance early Monday, with US stock index futures trading modestly lower on the day.

The ECB’s forum is entitled “Macroeconomic stabilisation in a volatile inflation environment.” Many prominent central bankers, including FOMC Chairman Jerome Powell and Bank of England President Andrew Bailey, will be speaking at this event later in the week.

The US Dollar Index, which snapped a three-week losing streak on the back of a strong rebound seen in the second half of the week, stays in a consolidation phase below 103.00 and the 10-year US Treasury bond yield is down more than 1% below 3.7% in the European morning.

EUR/USD holds steady at around 1.0900 early Monday after having registered small losses last week.

GBP/USD came within a touching distance of 1.2700 during the Asian trading hours on Monday but managed to stage a rebound toward 1.2750.

The Summary of Opinions of Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) June policy meeting showed that policymakers thought that the BoJ must consider reviewing the Yield Curve Control strategy at an early stage, while maintaining easy monetary policy. USD/JPY stays under modest bearish pressure early Monday and trades in negative territory at around 143.00.

Gold price benefits from retreating US yields and rises toward $1,930 in the European session after having lost nearly 2% last week.

Bitcoin edged lower over the weekend but managed to hold comfortably above $30,000. Ethereum stays in a consolidation phase near $1,900 on Monday following last week’s rally that saw ETH/USD gain more than 10%