Asia Summary and Highlights 1 Aug
Trump hit Canada with 35% tariff, 39% for Switzerland
Japan Finance Minister Kato says he is alarmed over FX moves, driven by speculators
Asia Session
There is no TACO for Canada and Switzerland as both got hit by 35% and 39% of tariffs respectively. Taiwan, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia all got around 20%. Australia got 10%, New Zealand 15%, so as Israel, Turkey and Venezuela. Transshipping tariff for Canada is 40%. So far USD/CAD has been cool as it is trading only 0.02% from Thursday's close at 1.3855 after an opening dip of ten pips. The broad risk sentiment is sour with regional equities fell more than U.S. equities. AUD/USD is trading 0.18% higher at 0.6436 and NZD/USD is trading 0.14% lower at 0.5880.
As USD/JPY jumped past 150 figure, we are beginning to hear verbal intervention, starting from Japanese FM Kato on speculative weakness in the JPY. We do not see the BoJ to actually intervene as the pace of weakness isn’t alarming yet. USD/JPY is trading 0.07% lower at 150.61. Else, EUR/USD is up 0.08% while GBP/USD down 0.03%.
North American session
The USD advanced though strongly so only in the case of USD/JPY, breaking above 150 to reach 150.75. EUR/USD near 1.1420 and GBP near 1.3215 were slightly weaker as were the commodity currencies.
US data showed initial claims lower than expected if up by 1k to 218k, while the Q2 employment cost index at 0.9% was stronger than expected. Gains of 0.3% in June personal income, spending and core PCE prices confirmed Q2 data seen in the GDP report. May Canadian GDP fell by 0.1% as expected but the preliminary estimate for June was for a 0.1% increase. Trump extended the tariff deadline for Mexico for 90 days.