Asia Summary and Highlights 28 Aug

Asia Session

The USD is trading broadly softer to start the Thursday’s trading session. There hasn’t been major headlines so far but Nvidia’s earning beats estimate and CEO Huang being bullish on China.  USD/JPY is trading 0.16% lower at 147.15. 

The broad equity space is performing individually with choppy regional and U.S equities in the green.  AUD/USD is trading 0.11% higher at 0.6512, NZD/USD is trading 0.06% higher at 0.5862 while USD//CAD slides 0.1%. Else, EUR/USD  is up 0.02% and GBP/USD is up 0.06%.

North American session

While there was no major news, the USD moved broadly lower, fully erasing gains seen in Asia and the European morning, with focus remaining on the Fed, in particular Trump’s efforts to dismiss Lisa Cook. Fed’s Williams made cautious comments saying it would be appropriate to ease at some point, though the USD slide started well after his remarks. 

USD/JPY peaked at 148.18 before falling below 147.50. EUR/USD bounced through 1.16 peaking near 1.1650. GBP/USD peaked just above 1.35 after seeing a low of 1.3417. AUD/USD edged above .65 from a low of .6563 while USD/CAD fell below 1.38 from above 1.3850.  

European morning session 

The USD was generally stronger through the European morning. EUR/USD fell 30 pips to 1.1590 while USD/JPY gained 10 pips to 147.90. GBP held up better than the EUR, with GBP/USD losing just 10 pips to 1.3445. AUD/USD lost 20 pips to 0.6470 and USD/CAD rose 15 pips to 1.3455. EUR/NOK was unchanged and the EUR slipped a little lower against the CHF and SEK. 

News was thin on the ground. The German GFK consumer confidence index for September was weaker than expected, following similar weakness in the French consumer confidence numbers on Tuesday. This, combined with continuing concerns about the French Budget ahead of a confidence vote next month, may have contributed to the softer EUR.