Summary:

• UoM consumer sentiment expected to decline slightly

• Fed to release its monetary policy report to Congress

• Major US banks will report its earnings today

Economic calendar on Friday is rather empty. We will get just one semi-tier data from the US in the afternoon and that will be University of Michigan consumer sentiment reading. However, one should keep in mind that the earnings season on Wall Street kicks off today therefore traders should always check what companies will be reporting earnings before making an investment decision. Our preview of this quarter’s earnings season can be found here. Apart from that, Fed will release its monetary policy report to Congress at 4:00 pm BST.

3:00 pm BST – US, Universitet of Michigan Consumer Sentiment for July. The consumer sentiment and confidence measured by UoM and CB remains in the stable uptrend since the global financial crisis. A preliminary reading for July will be released today while the final, revised data will be published in two weeks. However, the preliminary reading tends to have a greater market impact as it is more timely (even though it is less precise). Market consensus points for a slight downtick from 98.2 pts to 98 pts. Do notice that soft indicators like this one should be closely watched by investors as they are usually the first to show signs of a deterioration in the economy.

Central bank speakers scheduled for today:

• 12:30 pm BST – BoE Deputy Governor Cunliffe

• 5:30 pm BST – Fed’s Bostic

Notable US companies reporting earnings today:

• 11:45 am BST – JPMorgan (JPM.US) and PNC Financial Services Group (PNC.US)

• 1:00 pm BST – Citigroup (C.US) and Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.US)

EURUSD struggled to gain traction as of late. The pair failed to break above the 1.18 handle and in turn we may see a downward move to the level of this year’s lows around 1.1510. Source: xStation5