European Summary and Highlights 11 Jan

The USD moved slightly firmer against the riskier currencies in a quiet European morning session ahead of the US CPI data.
European morning session
The USD moved slightly firmer against the riskier currencies in a quiet European morning session ahead of the US CPI data. EUR/USD lost around 20 pips to 1.0960, and there were similar declines in other risky currencies, while USD/JPY was little changed around 145.50.
There was no data of any great note, but November Italian industrial production fell a much larger than expected 1.5% in November – its largest decline since June.
Asia session
The December m/m Australian trade balance beat estimate of 7500mn AUD strongly at 11437mn with exports rising 1.7% and Imports dropping 7.9%. The huge beat in headline would be welcoming yet the slump in import may signal the domestic demand of Australians has finally reached a flex point. With household saving ratios closer to zero, we should be seeing a further drop in import in the coming months. However, what really keep the Aussie upbeat on Thursday's Asia session is positive regional risk sentiment, solid commodity price and PBoC once again fixed the onshore Yuan rate to be much stronger than estimate. AUD/USD is trading 0.3% higher at 0.6720, NZD/USD is also 0.31% higher at 0.6247 while USD/CAD slipped 0.14% as oil rebound half a dollar.
USD is trading broadly lower before the U.S. CPI data in the New York session as risk sentiment broadly upbeat and zaps haven demand for USD. U.S. Treasury Yields are also lower across the curve while JGB yields rebounded after closer to December low, giving the JPY some bids. USD/JPY is trading 0.23% lower at 145.41. Elsewhere, EUR/USD is up 0.05% and GBP/USD is up 0.17%.