Asia Summary and Highlights 1 May
USD/JPY quiet but upwards
Asia Session
There is not reports on announcement or denial of intervention from the Japanese authorities. Headlines circling are pointing towards BoJ's report of larger than expected decrease in current account the proxy confirmation of such intervention. Nevertheless, USD/JPY continues its slow grind upwards as there was no fundamental shift, at least until FOMC. If the BoJ decided to beat down speculative JPY shorts, they will likely wait for the FOMC announcement to keep the lid on, if the Fed turns out to be on the hawkish side. USD/JPY is trading 0.06% higher at 157.88 despite JGB outpace U.S. Treasury Yields.
China, Hong Kong and Singapore are off to observe the labors day, aka "5-1 Golden Week". U.S. 3 major equity indexes are in the green while Nikkei is in the red. Both the AUD and NZD is trading 0.04% higher against the USD, while CAD slipped 0.02%. Else, EUR/USD us down 0.1% and GBP/USD is down 0.14%.
North American session
The USD got a lift from a stronger than expected 1.2% increase in the Q1 US Employment Cost index. Weaker US consumer confidence at 97.0 in April versus 103.1 in March provided some restraint, with EUR/USD getting close to pre-ECI levels around 1.0720, but the USD advance subsequently resumed. EUR/USD fell to 1.0675 while USD/JPY advanced to 157.75 from near 1.57.
A rise in USD/CAD to 1.3760 from 1.3675 was also assisted by February’s Canadian GDP rise of 0.2% falling short of expectations. AUD/USD fell 40 pips to .6480 while GBP/USD fell 45bps to 1.25.
Shortly after the Employment Cost data February House Price Indices from FHFA and S and P/Case Shiller came in stronger than expected while shortly before the consumer confidence data April’s Chicago PMI was very weak at 37.9 from 41.4.