Europe Summary and Highlights 4 August
The USD was mostly little changed through the European morning.
European morning session
The USD was mostly little changed through the European morning. Small gains seen in mid-session were mostly reversed by the end of the morning. GBP was an exception, with GBP/USD gaining 20 pips to 1.33, while the CHF was weak, with USD/CHF rising 30 pips to 0.8090.
Swiss July CPI data was a little stronger than expected, rising 0.2% y/y in July against the 0.1% expected, and the CHF rallied very briefly on the news before reversing lower. Swiss sight deposits for the latest week showed a modest decline, reversing some of the rise seen in recent weeks which might have been indicative of SNB intervention. The rise in the latest week suggests that support for EUR/CHF at 0.93 was not due to SNB action, and the EUR/CHF rise may reflect concern about the 39% US tariff on Switzerland announced last week.
Asia session
USD/JPY recovered minor Friday's losses amid Japanese equities indexes falling more than 1%. There hasn't been much headline so the move seems to be flow driven and follow through selling for the Japanese equities. USD/JPY is trading 0.28% higher at 147.78 after opening almost 20 pips lower as JGB yields lags behind U.S. Treasury yields significantly.
The broader risk atmosphere improves on Monday as major equity indexes, except Japan, recover from lower opening gaps and partially recovering Friday's losses. There is little update regarding Trump's tariff nor U.S.-Russia tension. The AUD/USD is trading 0.21% higher at 0.6482 with private inflation survey shows a 0.8% jump m/m. NZD/USD is trading 0.02% at 0.5915 while USD/CAD slips 0.13%. Else, EUR/USD is down 0.06% and GBP/USD is up 0.02%. Major currency all opened higher against the USD with those gaps closed at least once in the Asia session.