Europe Summary and Highlights 29 April
The USD was a little firmer through the European morning, particularly against the JPY and CHF, with only marginal gains against the riskier currencies.
European morning session
The USD was a little firmer through the European morning, particularly against the JPY and CHF, with only marginal gains against the riskier currencies. USD/JPY and USD/CHF both rise around 30 pips to 142.70 and 0.8360 respectively, but EUR/USD, GBP/USD and AUD/USD were less than 0.1% lower on the session. The CAD was the best performer, with USD/CAD falling 30 pips to 1.3840, following the confirmation of the Liberal victory in the Canadian election.
Swedish and Spanish Q1 GDP data were both released, and were both slightly weaker than expected. The volatile Swedish data showed no change q/q, but a 0.6% gain in March which suggests better prospects for Q2. Spain grew 0.6%, slightly below the consensus of 0.7%. Spanish CPI was stronger than expected at 2.2% y/y in April.
Asian session
Early polls are suggesting Carney's led Liberal will win the Canadian election. It is also saying likely Liberals will win minority. The sentiment shifted when the early results from Quebec came in. USD/CAD is reverted the early dip to trade 0.26% higher at 1.3866. The weakening in the Loonie seems to be driven by the likelihood of Liberals will need to seek co-operation from the NDP once again to form a government.
We will likely be hearing more from the tariff man on autos soon. It is reported that he is expected to ease on the magnitude of tariffs on auto. U.S. major equity indexes are all trading higher while regional equities moving closer to unchanged respectively in China, Hong Kong and Japan. The Japanese economy would welcome an easing of auto tariffs as they are to hit them hard. USD/JPY is trading 0.36% higher at 142.49. Else, Aussie is down 0.28%, NZD down 0.44%, EUR and GBP down 0.3% against the USD.