Asia Summary and Highlights 11 May
Weekend headlines pessimistic
Asia Session
Headlines over the weekend are mostly pessimistic as we see Iranian proposal being "unacceptable" for Trump. The huge gap between U.S. and Iran does not seem to have narrowed. Both Brent and WTI are up close to 5 USD/b with major equity indexes performing individually but off session low. AUD/USD is trading 0.22% lower at 0.7231 after opening lower at 0.7223. NZD/USD is trading 0.36% lower while USD/CAD rises 0.11%.
With no progress over the weekend in the geopolitical front, USD is once again receiving haven bids and see USD/JPY rally again. However, the threat of intervention has kept speculators on check. So far, we are only seeing one/two figure rebound from post intervention low, suggesting speculators are careful. USD/JPY is trading 0.29% higher at 157.10 after opening more than 10 pips lower than Friday's close. Else, EUR/USD is down 0.27% and GBP/USD is down 0.34%.
North American session
US non-farm payrolls were stronger than expected with a rise of 115k in April, but unemployment was unchanged at 4.3%, and higher before rounding, with average hourly earnings softer than expected at 0.2%. The USD softened marginally on the release but was not much changed in the session, USD/JPY near 156.70 and EUR/USD rising modestly to 1.1780. EUR/GBP stabilized near .8645 but EUR/JPY extended gains to 184.60.
The Canadian employment report was weak with employment falling by 17.7k in April and unemployment up to 6.9% from 6.7%. USD/CAD bounced above 1.37 from 1.36 before correcting to 1.3680. AUD/USD in contrast kept close to 0.7240.