Europe Summary and Highlights 15 May
The USD was marginally softer against the lower yielders through the European morning.
The USD was marginally softer against the lower yielders through the European morning. EUR/USD gained around 10 pips to 1.1205, and USD/JPY lost 15 pips to 145.85. The CHF was the best performer, with USD/CHF losing 25 pips to 0.8375. The higher yielders were broadly unchanged against the USD.
There was revised Q1 GDP data from the UK and the Eurozone. The UK number was revised up from 0.6% to 0.7% q/q, helped by a strong rise in business investment of 5.9% q/q, while the Eurozone number was revised slightly lower to 0.3% q/q, but neither had a market impact. Norwegian GDP was stronger than expected at 1.0% q/q, while Swiss GDP was also above expectations at 0.7% q/q. However, the strength of the CHF was likely more due to a softer tone to equities than the Swiss data. Eurozone employment in Q1 rose 0.3%, also above consensus.
Asia session
The April Australian labor data has come in significantly stronger than expected. Not only headline employment change is a beat of +89k, the participation rate of 67.1% is historic high with no change to unemployment rate of 4.1%. It will further reduce speculation of an imminent cut from the RBA after Wednesday stronger Wage Price Index. AUD/USD is trading 0.05% higher at 0.6431, NZD/USD is down 0.08% at 0.5893 while USD/CAD slips 0.09%. Oil is lower more than a dollar on Iran's signal on readiness to sign a nuclear deal if sanction is to be lifted. market thinks there will soon be more oil supply in the market.
10yr JGB yields is quickly approaching 1.5%, a level last seen in early April. The broad equity market is soft with Nikkei down more than a percent while U.S. Treasury yields are also in the red. USD/JPY is trading 0.49% lower at 146.02. Else, EUR/USD is up 0.14% and GBP/USD is up 0.09%.