Euro steadier – for now

The euro is steadier against the dollar, having fallen over the first half of the week, trading at just over $1.18 against the US currency. That said, Italian bonds are under pressure again this morning –  10-year yields are moving up once more having closed largely unchanged yesterday – so the single currency may not be out of the woods yet

Sterling is holding its own against both the euro and the dollar, trading at around 87.5p and $1.35 respectively. While there has been little or no progress in the Brexit talks since the EU summit in March, PM May is expected to outline a proposal (relating to the custom union and the Irish Border) ahead of June’s summit in an attempt to try and move things forward

US 10-year bond yields moved up a little further yesterday to close at 3.11%, an increase of almost 15bps over the past week (and some 70bps higher than at the end of 2017)

Fed member Mester says the outlook for the US economy is “one of the most favourable we have seen in a long time” with the labour market close to full employment and inflation in line with its 2% target

Brent crude oil prices continue to nudge higher and are now knocking on the door of $80 per barrel (which compares to their low of $27 p/b  back at the beginning of 2016)

It’s quiet on the data front today with the Euro area current account the only release of note