Europe Summary and Highlights 30 May
The USD edged slightly higher against the EUR and AUD in the European morning, but was otherwise little changed.
The USD edged slightly higher against the EUR and AUD in the European morning, but was otherwise little changed. EUR/USD lost around 20 pips to 1.1325, and AUD/USD fell 15 pips to 0.6415.
Newswise, German retail sales for April came in weaker than expected at -1.1% m/m, but underlying trends remain positive. Swedish Q1 GDP was revised down to -0.2% from flat, but follows a 0.8% gain in Q4 so is not seen as particularly worrying, and EUR/SEK was little changed. Spanish preliminary May CPI was on the soft side of consensus, but Italian CPI was essentially in line and German state CPI was on the strong side, suggesting we may not see the expected decline in the national CPI y/y rate later.
Asia session
The reversal in USD/JPY continues after the back and forth result of court ruling on Trump's tariff even the Japanese officials remain on their course to trade talks. It is also helped by Tokyo CPI staying above 3% y/y at 3.4%, ex fresh food is at its highest since January 2023 at 3.6% y/y, ex fresh food & energy at 3.3% y/y, also a yearly high. USD/JPY is trading 0.19% lower at 143.89 with 10yr JGB yields below 1.5%.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent says US-China talks stalled, putting a lid on the broad equity market. It is a sea of red for major equity indexes with HSI and Nikkei down more than a percent with USD trading broadly higher. AUD/USD is down 0.2% to 0.6429, NZD/USD is trading 0.05% higher at 0.5917 with RBNZ's assist governor saying 2.5-3.5% is neutral rate while USD/CAD rise 0.09%. Else, EUR/USD is down 0.18% and GBP/USD is down 0.13%.