Europe Summary and Highlights 18 September
The USD was generally lower through the European morning, except against the JPY.
European morning session
EUR/USD gained half a figure to 1.1840, with GBP, AUD, scandis and CHF keeping pace. The CAD lagged behind, with USD/CAD just dropping 20 pips to 1.3770, while USD/JPY was unchanged.
The main news of the morning was the Norges Bank rate cut of 25bps, which had been expected by the majority, but was accompanied by a less dovish rate path forecast, so there was no net impact on EUR/NOK after an initial move higher. Otherwise, there was little news, but there was notable strength in equity markets, with S&P 500 futures making another new all time high and gains of more than 1% in European stocks.
Asia session
The Australia August headline employment change is a miss of 5.4k contraction but unemployment rate remain steady at 4.2%. Part time employment also increased more than full time jobs. However, one bad report does not mean a weak Australian labor market, especially with unemployment rate steady. AUD/USD is trading 0.32% lower at 0.6630, NZD/USD slumped by 085% to 0.5913 after the dismay Q2 GDP data that came in at -0.9% q/q and -0.6% y/y, driving speculation of more cut from the RBNZ while USD/CAD rises 0.09%.
As market participants digest the overnight FOMC decision, USD is trading broadly higher on Thursday's Asia session. U.S. Treasury yields are retracing partial post FOMC gains while JGB yields are playing catch up. USD/JPY is trading 0.17% higher at 147.19. Else, EUR/USD is down 0.14% and GBP/USD is down 0.12%.