Asia Summary and Highlights 14 Jul

Asia Session

The equity market opened lower on Trump's 30% tariff on EU and Mexico. While market anticipates "TACO" and Trump suggesting EU are talking with him over the weekend, the broader risk sentiment remains sour.  USD/JPY opened lower at 147.13 from Friday's close at 147.40, currently still down 0.01% at 147.39. The gap was closed once and saw USD/JPY spiking higher to 147.57 despite JGB yields performing strongly.

After opening in the red, there has been little positive tariff headlines and see U.S. major equity indexes remain in the losses. Regional equities managed to recoup early losses and is trading mostly in the green. USD shook off its choppy start and points north. AUD/USD is trading 0.17% lower at 0.6564, NZD/USD  is trading 0.38% lower at 0.5985 while USD/CAD is trading 0.07%. Else, both the EUR/USD and GBP/USD is down 0.16%. All major currency pairs have closed the opening gap at least once.

North American session

The USD saw little overall change in North America. Equities saw only modest losses after Trump’s tariff escalation with Canada, but UST yields picked up, and that lifted USD/JPY above 147 to touch 147.50. EUR/USD remained close to 1.1690 awaiting news on tariffs, but EUR/GBP moved above .8650 as GBP/USD remained under pressure, seeing lows below 1.35.  

There was no significant US data but June Canadian employment sharply exceeded expectations with a rise of 83.1k, which saw USD/CAD slip from 1.37 to near 1.3650, where it was trading before the tariff escalation. A rebound above 1.37 followed, before eventually setting near 1.3685.