Asia Summary and Highlights 5 Aug

Asia Session

It is reported that Japan's trade negotiator Akazawa is heading back to the U.S. to engage in more trade talks. He is expected to push the U.S. on the matter of auto tariffs and confirm details of the latest trade agreement. JGB yields continue to slide and see USD/JPY trading 0.09% higher at 147.22 after visiting a session low of 146.62.

Regional equities are more upbeat than U.S. three major equity indexes on Tuesday. There is not a lot of market moving headline and thus it looks like follow through flows on overnight optimism. The Australian June Household spending arrived at +0.5% m/m, 4.8% y/y, suggesting continuous recovering of consumption. AUD/USD is trading 0.04% lower at 0.6464, NZD/USD is trading 0.17% lower at 0.5896 while USD/CAD rose 0.07%. Else, EUR/USD is down 0.12% and GBP/USD is down 0.03%.

North American session

It was a subdued session in North America with little news. Trump stated he would replace resigning Fed Governor Kugler and sacked BLS statistician McEntarfer this week. June factory orders were as expected at -4.8% but with a 0.4% increase ex transport, while the Fed’s Senior Loan Officer Opinion survey suggested weaker investment demand. 

USD/JPY slipped marginally below 147 while EUR/USD had little direction near 1.1570. Equities advanced but the riskier currencies could not sustain a positive open, GBP/USD slipping back below 1.33, AUD/USD slightly softer near .6460 and USD/CAD little changed near 1.3780.