North America Summary and Highlights 11 Jan

North American session
The USD gained ground through the North American session, benefiting from a stronger than expected December CPI print along with another fall in continuing jobless claims and still low initial jobless claims. December CPI saw 0.3% rises in both the headline and core measures. Market consensus was 0.2% for headline and 0.3% for core, so the data was only modestly on the strong side. However, the consensus for y/y rates was 3.2% and 3.8% for headline and core, and the outcomes were 3.4% and 3.9% - both above expectations, suggesting a slightly stronger outcome than the m/m data suggested. 
EUR/USD initially spiked higher to 1.10 from 1.0985 before the data, but this was very brief and by the end of the session it had slipped back below 1.0950. AUD/USD saw the biggest decline, falling 1% to 0.6650, helped by a weaker equity market, with the S&P losing nearly 1% after futures briefly spiked above 4800 after the data. But the JPY also underperformed the EUR, with USD/JPY jumping more than half a figure to trade above 146. EUR/JPY briefly traded above 160 before edging back below this level. 

European morning session
The USD moved slightly firmer against the riskier currencies in a quiet European morning session ahead of the US CPI data. EUR/USD lost around 20 pips to 1.0960, and there were similar declines in other risky currencies, while USD/JPY was little changed around 145.50. 
There was no data of any great note, but November Italian industrial production fell a much larger than expected 1.5% in November – its largest decline since June.