Asia Summary and Highlights 24 April

Asia Session

Headline crossed the wire that Japan and U.S. are planning to talk again by the end of month. So far, there is little indication of an imminent deal despite Japanese auto industry will be affected significantly and the Trump administration told Japan it cannot give Japan special tariff treatment in the earlier talks in April. USD/JPY has retraced partial Wednesday gains to trade 0.41% lower at 142.8 as U.S. Treasury Yields slide and JGB yields erase almost all opening gains.

U.S. equity indexes are retracing partial Wednesday gains while regional equities are choppy with Nikkei leading. USD is trading mostly weaker against majors after Trump suggesting Canadian tariff could go higher. AUD/USD is trading 0.04% lower at 0.6357, NZD/USD is trading 0.14% higher at 0.5953 while USD/CAD slides 0.09%. Else, EUR/USD is up 0.21% and GBP/USD is up 0.11%.

North American session

The USD strengthened in North America. After a firm open for equities the USD got a lift from an unexpected rise in the S and P manufacturing PMI, to 50.7 from 50.2, though services were weaker at 51.4 from 54.4. A 7.4% rise in new home sales to 724k followed. Equities came off their highs after Treasury Secretary Bessent said a US-China trade deal could take 2-3 years and that there was no unilateral offer from Trump to cut tariffs on China, but this fuelled USD gains versus the risker currencies. 

USD/JPY rallied from below 142 to touch 143.50 as UST yields erased early losses while EUR/USD slipped to 1.1325 from around 1.14. EUR slipped versus the GBP but advanced versus the CHF. USD/CAD reached 1.39 from 1.3825 while AUD/USD slipped to .6370 from .6415.