Europe Summary and Highlights 11 December
The USD was generally strong through the European morning, with USD/JPY moving sharply higher on a story that BoJ officials didn’t see little cost in waiting for the next rate hike, and see less risk of a weak JPY pushing up inflation.
European morning session
The USD was generally strong through the European morning, with USD/JPY moving sharply higher on a story that BoJ officials didn’t see little cost in waiting for the next rate hike, and see less risk of a weak JPY pushing up inflation. While the story also said that some might support a rate hike in December, USD/JPY rose more than a big figure to a high of 152.80.
The USD also made more modest gains elsewhere, with EUR/USD dropping 30 pips to 1.0495 and AUD/USD making a new low for the year at 0.6337. GBP was even weaker than the EUR, losing half a figure to 1.2720, but the CHF almost held its own against the USD, with EUR/CHF dropping 20 pips to 0.9280.
Asia session
The Japan November PPI has come in stronger than estimated both m/m and y/y, though not by a huge extent. While PPI has been a poor indicator of its transferal to CPI, the gradual change in price setting behavior will strengthen such relationship. USD/JPY is trading 0.30% lower at 151.5 as both the U.S. Treasury and JGB yields rose.
Risk asset are performing individually on Wednesday with HSI leading the loss and Chinese equities in the green. As China piled up pressure on Taiwan with military exercise, Taiwan says they will take necessary defense measures re Chinese military activities. However, this are the words we will be hearing from both sides while the risk of an actual clash is minimal. AUD/USD is trade 0.03% higher at 0.6379, NZD/USD is unchanged while USD/CAD slips 0.12% with oil up half a dollar. Else, EUR/USD and GBP/USD are unchanged.