Daily Market Report
10/23/2026
EUR/USD ranged in the high 1.19’s to the low 1.12’s overnight. The EUR/USD pair attracts sellers for the second straight day in reaction to mostly disappointing Eurozone PMIs, trading near the lower end of the weekly range, around the 1.1200 mark during the first half of the European session on Friday.
The preliminary estimate showed that private sector business activity in the Eurozone expanded at a slower pace in October, with the HCOB Composite PMI falling to 51.9 from 53.1 in the previous month. This comes on top of softening growth in Germany – the Eurozone’s largest economy – and an unexpected contraction in France’s private-sector business activity. Apart from this, deep sovereign debt and political crisis in France continue to undermine the shared currency, which, along with the emergence of some US Dollar (USD) buying, exerts some pressure on the EUR/USD pair.
The British Pound (GBP) is down against its major currency peers on Friday, trading 0.1% lower at around 1.3380 against the US Dollar (USD) during the European trade. The British currency faces pressure even as United Kingdom (UK) flash S&P Global Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data for October has come in surprisingly stronger.
The PMI report showed that the overall business activity remained robust due to a significant growth in both manufacturing and the service sector output. The Composite PMI arrives at 53.1, significantly higher than final reading of 52.0 in September. The data was expected to come in lower at 51.8.
“The UK economy has picked up momentum in October, with early PMI data indicating the strongest rate of growth since February. This encouraging sign of economic resilience is underscored by firms taking on additional workers for the first time since hiring was hit by the 2024 Autumn Budget,” Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence.
The USD/JPY pair stages a goodish intraday bounce from the 156.00 neighborhood, or an over one-month low touched earlier this Friday, and sticks to modest gains through the early European session. Spot prices look to build on the momentum further beyond the 157.00 mark amid a broadly firmer US Dollar (USD), albeit seem poised to register heavy weekly losses.
Japan’s National Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, published earlier today, reaffirmed market bets for an imminent interest rate hike by the Bank of Japan (BoJ). Furthermore, traders remain on high alert amid speculation that any further depreciation in the Japanese Yen (JPY) could trigger direct currency intervention from authorities. This might cap the upside for the USD/JPY pair ahead of next week’s key central bank events.
Source: FX Street