ForexLive European FX news wrap: Currencies little changed while silver jumps, ECB up next

Headlines:

• One last consecutive rate cut for the road by the ECB?
• What are the expectations for the ECB decision coming up later?
• China vice president Han Zheng says US-China relations are at 'critical juncture'
• Japan to offer a package on China in tariff talks with the US - Nikkei
• Suzuki stops production of Swift model cars due to China's rare earth restriction
• Majority of UK firms see no material impact from US trade policy changes - BOE survey
• Eurozone April PPI -2.2% vs -1.8% m/m expected
• Germany April industrial orders +0.6% vs -1.0% m/m expected
• Germany May construction PMI 44.4 vs 45.1 prior
• UK May construction PMI 47.9 vs 47.2 expected
• Italy April retail sales +0.7% vs +0.2% expected
• US Challenger May layoffs 93.82k vs 105.44k prior

Markets:

• AUD and NZD lead, JPY lags on the day
• European equities higher; S&P 500 futures up 0.1%
• US 10-year yields down 2.7 bps to 4.337%
• Gold up 0.5% to $3,392.63
• WTI crude up 0.2% to $62.97
• Bitcoin up 0.2% to $104,870

It was another quiet session for the most part as we await the ECB policy decision later today alongside more trade developments before the end of the week.

Major currencies didn't get up to much amid a lack of significant headlines, with just some murmurs about what is happening between the US and Japan as Akazawa heads to Washington again for more talks.

The dollar is trading more mixed, keeping little changed against the euro, pound, and franc. USD/JPY is seen up 0.3% to 143.27 but there wasn't too much pushing and pulling during the session. USD/CAD is also fairly subdued, down 0.1% to 1.3660 while AUD/USD is up 0.3% to 0.6508 in flirting with a potential breakout above 0.6500 at least. The latter is perhaps the only notable move in the FX space.

Besides that, risk sentiment was fairly more tentative as well. European indices continue to creep higher with US futures keeping lightly changed after a bit of a pullback late yesterday.

Instead, it was precious metals that stood out with silver jumping over 2% to fresh highs in 12 years. The price moved up to hit nearly $36 before settling around $35.70 now, up 2.1% on the day. That also saw gold recover from light losses to be up to close in on the $3,400 mark now as we look to US trading.

The ECB is up next and will deliver a 25 bps rate cut. All eyes will on what Lagarde has to say next before the focus turns back towards more trade headlines and the US jobs report tomorrow.