North American Summary and Highlights 29 Apr
Overview - USD/JPY continued to see volatility but with little net change in Europe or North America.
North American session
While USD/JPY kept well within European ranges in North America, the moves were significant, while again ending near opening levels. An early bounce above 156 gradually extended above 156.80. The afternoon saw a sudden sharp fall to 155.10 from above 156.50 before a recovery to around 156.
Elsewhere the USD saw some modest gains early on before reversing direction. For EUR/USD the range was modest, dipping to 1.0690 before peaking at 1.0734. GBP/USD outperformed, rising to 1.2560 as EUR/GBP slipped to .8535 from .8555. EUR/CHF also edged lower while the commodity currencies kept to tight ranges. There was no significant data, with the Dallas Fed’s manufacturing weak but little changed on the month.
European morning session
A lively morning for USD/JPY, with suspected intervention early on to knock it lower after a brief rally from the intervention seen in late Asia. After opening in Europe around 156 following the 5 figure decline from 160 to 155 in late Asia, USD/JPY rallied to 157 before falling sharply again to a low of 154.53 on more suspected intervention, before recovering to near opening levels by the end of the morning.
Otherwise the USD was slightly firmer, making initial gains against the riskier currencies. These reversed the USD losses seen at the time of the sharp JPY rise in late Asia, and there wasn’t much net USD movement against the riskier currencies relative to the pre-BoJ intervention levels.
Newswise the German state CPI data were broadly in line with expectations. National CPI was unchanged at 2.2% y/y, though HICP increased to 2.4% from 2.3%. Spanish CPI was also close to market expectations. Swedish GDP data showed the expected 0.1% q/q Q1 decline, but the European Commission survey was somewhat weaker than expected, showing declines in the business climate index and industrial sentiment.