Europe Summary and Highlights 12 December
The USD was generally firmer through the European morning session, with the JPY continuing to underperform.
European morning session
The USD was generally firmer through the European morning session, with the JPY continuing to underperform. USD/JPY rose 20 pips to 155.90, while EUR/USD dropped 15 pips to 1.1725. The CAD was the best performer, with USD/CAD dropping 15 pips to 1.3760. Scandis underperformed, with EUR/SEK and EUR/NOK both rising around 4 figures, helped by a rise in seasonally adjusted Swedish unemployment to 9.0% in November.
EUR/GBP popped slightly higher early in the session after UK GDP data saw an unexpected decline of 0.1% in October, due to weakness in services and construction. But the impact on GBP was modest, with EUR/GBP rising just a few pips to 0.8765 after peaking below 0.8775.
Asia session
While risk have a strong bid in the late hours of NA session, the sentiment took a beating on Trump beating the war drum in early Asia. For whatever reason, Trump keeps on pressuring Venezuela, first by seizing oil vessels, than now threatens to be on land. But most market participants seem to believe such is a tactic for gaining negotiation chips, so USD/JPY is trading 0.09% higher at 155.72.
The broad risk sentiment remains undecided on Friday after a turbulent week post FOMC. Speculators are split between more easing and A.I. spending concern and see major equity indexes performing individually. AUD/USD is trading 0.03% lower at 0.6662, NZD is unchanged while USD/CAD rises 0.05%. Else, EUR/USD is down 0.02% and GBP/USD is up 0.05%.