European session review: EUR mixed as U.S. president’s threat to impose retaliatory tariffs on China over coronavirus pandemic rattles market sentiment

EUR traded mixed in the European session on Friday, when large parts of Europe closed for Labor Day.

The European single currency dropped slightly against safe-haven JPY and CHF, as the U.S. President Trump's threat to use tariffs to punish China for its handling of the coronavirus outbreak raised U.S.-China trade woes, weighing on market sentiment.

Meanwhile, the euro rose against most other major currencies, as it continued to receive support from yesterday's ECB generous measures to cushion the economic blow from the COVID-19.

After its April meeting, the ECB announced that conditions on the targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTRO) had been further eased and announced the new series of non-targeted pandemic emergency longer-term refinancing operations (PELTROs) to support liquidity conditions in the euro area financial system. The Bank also stated that the purchases under the new pandemic emergency purchase program (PEPP) would continue to be conducted in a flexible manner over time, across asset classes and among jurisdictions, and the net purchases under the asset purchase program (APP) would continue at a monthly pace of €20 billion, together with the purchases under the additional €120 billion temporary envelope until the end of the year. In addition, the ECB said it was fully prepared to increase the size of the PEPP by as much as necessary and for as long as needed.