Europe Summary and Highlights 17 March

European morning session

The USD fell back across the board through the European morning, dropping around 0.25%. There was little movement on the crosses, with only the NOK standing out from the crowd, gaining 4 figures against the EUR, dropping to 11.53.

There was no data of any note, with Italian February CPI unrevised at 1.7% y/y on an HICP basis. European equities were modestly higher, but there was little movement in yields.

Asia session

USD opened higher on Monday across majors as US Treasury Secretary Bessent has left concerning remarks over the weekend. He says that he can't guarantee there will be no recession for the U.S. and welcomes the drop in stock market. These remarks have driven the USD higher as it is not a positive comment to hear from a high level U.S. official and see USD/JPY 0.29% higher at 149.04 with U.S. Treasury Yields outperforming JGB yields.

Regional sentiment is upbeat on Monday with Japan, Hong Kong and Chinese equities all higher than Friday's close. China's Shenzhen and Zhejiang announced more measures to boost consumption and seems to be supporting sentiment. China’s State Council also revealed its plan to boost domestic consumption. AUD/USD is trading unchanged, NZD/USD is 0.16% higher at 0.5756 while USD/CAD rose 0.04%. Else, EUR/USD is up 0.02% and GBP/USD is down 0.03%.