Europe Summary and Highlights 24 April
The USD was generally weaker through the European morning.
European morning session
The USD was generally weaker through the European morning. EUR/USD gained 45 pips to 1.1385, while USD/JPY fell 35 pips to 142.45. AUD and CHF moved broadly in line with the EUR, while GBP and CAD moved in line with the JPY. Scandis were the best performers, with EUR/NOK dropping 9 figures to 11.85 and EUR/SEK 4 figures to 10.94.
The main news was the German IFO survey, which came in much stronger than expected, with the business climate index rising slightly to 86.9 in April. Current conditions also rose, while the expectations index was only marginally softer. This went against the weaker tone of the PMI reported yesterday, but didn’t have much market impact, with the EUR/USD gains mostly seen before the release.
Asian 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%.