Market struggles to digest mixed messages -...>

FOREX: Market struggles to digest mixed messages

- After a generally quiet European morning, global equities were rattled on

reports that the US have locked out US suppliers from Huawei's supply chain,

elevating tensions between China and the US. This snowballed further, with

China's Global Times writing that China could target Apple, Qualcomm, Cisco and

Boeing in response - all of which underperformed ahead of the market open.

- This left haven FX in demand, with JPY and CHF remaining bid, while GBP looked

to extend recent losses and cement the bearish outlook. GBP/USD has now fallen

for five consecutive sessions and 9 of the past 11 days.

- NZD was also among the poorest performers, pressuring NZD/USD to the week's

lows just ahead of the close. The move prompted AUD/NZD to narrow the gap with

the November 2019 high at 1.0866.

- Japanese GDP, UK jobs and inflation data, German ZEW survey, Fed minutes and

global prelim PMI data for May take focus in the coming week. The Chinese

government also come together to set the latest official growth targets, which

are likely to be heavily impacted by the global COVID-19 outbreak.