Europe Summary and Highlights 31 October
The USD was generally not much changed through a quiet European morning.
European morning session
The USD was generally not much changed through a quiet European morning. EUR/USD recovered to 1.1570 after a dip to 1.1560 at the open, while USD/JPY dropped back to 154.10 after a test of the recent highs at 154.40. USD/CAD was slightly higher at 1.4010, and EUR/NOK gained 3 figures to 11.67, but in general there was little change.
Datawise, German September retail sales were in line with consensus at 0.2% m/m, suggesting a mild deterioration in the recent trend. German import prices were slightly higher than expected at -1.0% y/y. Equities were mostly slightly lower, while bond yields were slightly higher, but there was little in the way of market moving news.
Asia session
The October Tokyo CPI has edged higher on all three items. Headline CPI grew from 2.5% to 2.8%, so as ex fresh food and ex fresh food & energy CPI. This continues to point towards choppy yet solid underlying inflation and remain supportive for BoJ's tightening moves after more political certainty. There was also some verbal intervention from the new government with Japan FinMin Katayama saying FX moves were recently one-sided and rapid. USD/JPY is trading 0.11% lower at 153.93.
Regional sentiment is sour on Friday, seems to be dragged by contracting manufacturing PMI in China. U.S. major equity indexes are performing individually while Nikkei led gains with more than a percent. AUD/USD is trading 0.10% lower at 0.6547, NZD/USD is trading 0.15% and USD/CAD is unchanged. Else, EUR/USD is up 0.07% and GBP/USD is up 0.04%.