European Summary and Highlights 8 August

European morning session

A relatively quiet European morning saw the USD gains slightly against the EUR and GBP, and edge a little lower against the CHF in a risk negative session. The scandis were the weakest performers, with EUR/NOK rising nearly 1% to 11.88 and EUR/SEK up around 0.5% to 11.47. AUD and CAD both edged lower against the USD, while USD/JPY was net little changed.

There was little news of any note.

Asia session

USD/JPY remains volatile as market participants braces for more BoJ speakers. A member said in the July Bank of Japan Summary of Opinions that neutral rates should be at least 1%, which seems to be driving the early bids in JPY. We also heard from Japan finance minister Suzuki says no comment on BOJ deputy governor Uchida's remarks which seems Uchida was just trying to calm the market rather than a policy tilt. USD/JPY dipped to 145.42 in early Tokyo and is currently trading just 0.45% lower at 146.00 while both the U.S. Treasury and JGB yields slips.

RBA Governor Bullock says don't expect to be back in 2-3% target range until end of 2025 and don't see interest rates coming down quickly. The hawkish comment has pushed the Aussie higher as it reassures the market they are unlikely to see any early easing. Regional and U.S. three major equities indexes are trading higher, except Japanese equities. AUD/USD is trading 0.57% higher at 0.6557, NZD/USD rose 0.17% to 0.6605 while USD/CAD slipped 0.18%. Else, EUR/USD is up 0.1% and GBP/USD is up 0.03%.