North American Summary and Highlights 30 July

North American session

USD/JPY fell sharply from 155 to touch as low as 153 with only a marginal subsequent correction, with UST yields also lower. The USD however saw gains against EUR and GBP, with EUR/USD briefly touching below 1.08 before a modest correction. This saw EUR/JPY falling from above 167.50 to briefly touch 165.50. While EUR/GBP was fairly stable EUR/CHF slipped to .9560 from near .96. AUD/USD and USD/CAD saw little net movement, with the latter showing slightly more volatility. 

The USD saw only a brief boost from stronger than expected June JOLTS job openings, at 8.184m from an upwardly revised 8.23m. At the same time July consumer confidence rose to 100.3 from a downwardly revised 97.8. 

European morning session

The USD was generally slightly softer through the European morning, with EUR/USD gaining around 15 pips to 1.0835, and GBP/USD gaining around 10 pips to 1.2860. However, AUD/USD fell back 10 pips to 0.6545, and USD/JPY was also marginally higher. The NOK was the best performer, with EUR/NOK dropping 3 figures to 11.87. 

Newswise, there was a set of mixed Eurozone data. Eurozone GDP was slightly stronger than expected, rising 0.3% q/q in Q2, but this came in spite of much weaker than expected German GDP which fell 0.1% q/q. CPI data was on the softer side, with Spanish CPI well below expectations at 2.9% y/y HICP basis, while German state CPI was broadly in line with consensus. The European Commission July survey was mixed, but generally not much changed from recent months.