Forex Today: Markets start the new week in a calm manner

Here is what you need to know on Monday, November 7:

Markets stay relatively quiet at the beginning of the week as investors assess the latest developments. The disappointing trade figures from China and the waning optimism about China easing coronavirus-related restrictions force market participants to adopt a cautious stance. Later in the session, September Consumer Credit Change will be the only data featured in the US economic docket. November Sentix Investor Confidence for the eurozone will be looked upon for fresh impetus. Finally, investors will pay close attention to comments from central bank officials.

In October, China's trade surplus widened modestly to $85.15 billion from $84.74 billion, missing the market expectation of $95.95 billion by a wide margin. On a yearly basis, Exports grew by 7%, compared to analysts' forecast of 14.8%, while Imports increased by 6.8%, slightly better than the market consensus of 6%. Earlier in the day, China reported 5,496 new locally transmitted cases of COVID-19 on November 6. This number marks the highest one-day increase since May 2, when strict lockdown measures were introduced.

In the early European morning, US stock index futures trade modestly lower on the day and the US Dollar Index clings to small daily gains at around 111.00. The benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond yield continues to move sideways above 4.1%.

Following Friday's impressive rebound, EURUSD has gone into a consolidation phase near 0.9950 early Monday. European Central Bank (ECB) officials continue to share their differing opinions on the policy outlook, making it difficult for the shared currency to preserve its bullish momentum. ECB Governing Council member and French central bank governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau told the Irish Times that they were not far from the neutral rate, beyond which the pace of rate increases could be more flexible and slower. In the meantime, the data from Germany revealed that Industrial Production expanded by 0.6% on a monthly basis in September. This reading came in much stronger than the market expectation for a contraction of 0.8% but failed to help the Euro (EUR).

GBPUSD is having a difficult time building on last Friday's gains and trading in a narrow channel slightly above 1.1300. Over the weekend, The Guardian reported that British Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt was preparing to announce up to 60 billion Pounds ($67.82 billion) of tax rises and spending cuts, including at least 35 billion pounds ($39.56 billion) in cuts. This headline, however, doesn't seem to be having a noticeable impact on Pound Sterling's performance against its rivals.

USDJPY has gathered bullish momentum early Monday and advanced toward the mid-147.00s. The Bank of Japan will release the Summary of Opinions in the early trading hours of the Asian session on Tuesday.

Gold is staging a deep correction early Monday and was last seen losing 0.85% on the day at $1,667. On Friday, XAUUSD rose over 3% and touched its highest level since mid-October at $1,682.

After having advanced to its strongest level in nearly two months at $21,500 on Saturday, Bitcoin lost nearly 2% on Sunday and continued to push lower early Monday. At the time of press, BTCUSD was down 0.5% on the day at $20,800. Ethereum stayed under modest bearish pressure over the weekend and erased all of its weekly gains. ETHUSD was last seen moving sideways slightly above $1,500.