European Summary and Highlights 3 Apr
A very quiet session for FX saw the USD make some modest gains.
European morning session
A very quiet session for FX saw the USD make some modest gains. USD/JPY gained around 15 pips to 151.75, and AUD/USD fell around 20 pips to 0.6505, but EUR/USD was only marginally weaker, oscillating close to 1.0770, and other European currencies were similarly static.
The Eurozone preliminary CPI data for March came in 0.1% below the published median estimates at 2.4% headline, 2.9% core, but likely in line with real market expectations after the softer German, French and Italian CPI numbers already released.
Asia session
On Wednesday, it is recorded there is an earthquake with magnitude of 7.5 and more near Taiwan, with tsunami affecting Japan and the Philippines. We haven't heard any major destruction yet and this the market response is muted so far. The BoJ continued to buy JGB as the same amount as previous purchase and see JGB yields closing the opening gap. With U.S. Treasury Yields slightly higher, USD/JPY is trading merely 0.02% higher at 151.58.
China Caixin Services PMI came in slightly higher than estimate at 52.7 but both the regional and global sentiment is soft. AUD/USD slipped 0.03% to 0.6516 while NZD/USD rose 0.05% to 0.5973 and USD/CAD up 0.05% to 1.3573. The communication between Xi and Biden does not seem to yield much but the willingness to communicate should be treated as a positive sign. EUR/USD is up 0.05% and GBP/USD is down 0.01%.