Asia Summary and Highlights 17 March

Asia Session

USD opened higher on Monday across majors as US Treasury Secretary Bessent has left concerning remarks over the weekend. He says that he can't guarantee there will be no recession for the U.S. and welcomes the drop in stock market. These remarks have driven the USD higher as it is not a positive comment to hear from a high level U.S. official and see USD/JPY 0.29% higher at 149.04 with U.S. Treasury Yields outperforming JGB yields.

Regional sentiment is upbeat on Monday with Japan, Hong Kong and Chinese equities all higher than Friday's close. China's Shenzhen and Zhejiang announced more measures to boost consumption and seems to be supporting sentiment. China’s State Council also revealed its plan to boost domestic consumption. AUD/USD is trading unchanged, NZD/USD is 0.16% hihger at 0.5756 while USD/CAD rose 0.04%. Else, EUR/USD is up 0.02% and GBP/USD is down 0.03%

North American session

The only significant data release showed a sharp decline in the preliminary March Michigan CSI, to 57.9 from 64.7, with the 5-10 year inflation expectation surging to 3.9%, its highest since 1993, from 3.5%. Despite the startling data the FX response was limited, and equities enjoyed a significant bounce. 

Equity gains lifted the commodity currencies, AUD/USD to .6325 from around .63, while USD/CAD fell to 1.4375 from 1.4425. EUR/USD slipped back below 1.09 but sustained the bulk of its European gains. USD/JPY was marginally lower around 148.55 after peaking at 149. Long-term USD yields slipped on growth concerns despite a spike at the front end on Michigan CSI inflation expectations.