Europe Summary and Highlights 17 February

European morning session

A quiet European morning saw generally little FX action, with EUR/USD, USD/JPY and AUD/USD all little changed on the morning, reversing a small USD rally seen in the middle of the session. GBP was slightly stronger, with EUR/GBP dipping 10 pips to 0.8320.

The only news of note was the Swedish unemployment data which was released early in the session. This shown an unexpectedly sharp rise to 9.7% in the seasonally adjusted data, and initially triggered a EUR/SEK rise of a couple of figures, but this didn’t last the morning and EUR/SEK finished the session little changed at 11.22.

Asia session

The Japan Q4 GDP has came in higher than estimate at 2.8% y/y with private consumption resumes its expansion. It seems to suggest the higher wage is kicking in and the cumulated demand in the past quarter are being subsequently released. It is good to see consumption recovers but one must be wary about its sustainability as real wage remains negative for most of H2 2024, which may suggest it is the release of pent up demand rather than consumption revival. USD/JPY is trading 0.47% lower at 151.56 with JGB yields searching new high.

The risk space is having a positive start for the week with most equity indexes in the green. While the magnitude is limited, the positive sentiment spread to the FX space and see USD trading lower. The AUD/USD is 0.27% higher at 0.6368, NZD/USD is up 0.17% at 0.5740 while USD/CAD slipped 0.12%. Else, EUR/USD is up 0.09% and GBP/USD is up 0.1%.