Market Snapshot – Trouble in Spain

Madrid and Barcelona At It Again

The main news so far today has been the developments in Catalonia which held a referendum recently where it declared independence from Spain. It has to be noted that this was the second such referendum and in the previous one as well, the people there had voted for independence but nothing much followed. This time also, despite a lot of pressure from Spain, they went ahead with the referendum but with the results out, it remains to be seen what they would do for the next step. Unlike other major countries, Catalonia does not have much support from any global powers and also anyone from the Eurozone and so they are on a sticky wicket, to be honest. They seem to be developing cold feet once again now with some leaders raising doubts over whether they really want to go ahead with the move for independence. This uncertainty has been weighing on the euro for today.

Long Wait for Volatility

Looking ahead, the host of speakers from the Fed and the BOE and also the NFP employment report tomorrow are likely to dominate the market headlines over the next couple of days. Speeches from Yellen and Draghi and ADP data were not enough to break the market from its lull and so it remains to be seen whether the NFP and the other speakers would be able to give a push to the euro or the dollar in the coming days.