Asia Summary and Highlights 17 October
Australian September headline employment change +64.1k
Unemployment Rate 4.1%, Participation Rate 67.2%
Japan September exports -1.7% y/y & imports +2.1%
Asia Session
Another solid September labor report from Australia. Not only there is a headline beat of 64.1k employment change, both the unemployment and participation rate improved. It continues to point toward a solid jobs market, which seems to have keep wage momentum going. AUD/USD is trading 0.39% higher at 0.6692, NZD/USD up 0.11% at 0.6063 while USD/CAD rose 0.09%.Regional sentiment is mixed while U.S. three major equity indexes are in the red.
The Japan September trade data has missed estimate with export at -1.7% y/y and import 2.1% y/y. It is a poor report but import continues to grow and suggest there is some underlying strength in consumption. JGB are outperforming U.S. Treasury Yields on Thursday's Asia session. USD/JPY is trading 0.07% lower at 149.51. Else, EUR/USD is down 0.08% and GBP/USD is down 0.04%.
North American session
In a session with little news the USD was generally stronger, despite limited movement in UST yields. EUR/USD found sellers at 1.09 and slipped to near 1.0850, but USD/JPY stabilized near 149.80 with no test of 150 seen. GBP/USD returned to European lows near 1.2980 as EUR/GBP consolidated around .8360. USD/CAD was an exception to a stronger USD picture, slipping from just below 1.38 to just above 1.3750. With AUD/USD slightly weaker AUD/CAD fell to .9170 from .9220.