Asia Summary and Highlights 8 April

Asia Session

The rebound continues on Tuesday's Asia session and see USD trading broadly lower against majors. There has not been much headline so far except Chinese government verbally supporting the economy and hope for stability. USD/JPY is trading 0.15% lower at 147.58 as JGB beats U.S. Treasury Yields performance.

The rebound in equity market seems to be driven by the anticipation of any positive headline on U.S. tariffs (mostly looking towards a one month delay). But such hopium is unlikely to last as China has responded firmly towards Trump remark that he will impose another 50% tariff.  Major equity indexes has shown reversal of Monday's losses but have since retreated from session high from the lack of positive headlines surfacing. AUD/USD is still up 1.22% to 0.6057, NZD/USD is up 1.19% to 0.5607 while USD/CAD is down 0.59%. Else, EUR/USD is up 0.62% and GBP/USD is up 0.47%.

North American session

Equities saw a fairly neutral day after a weak start. A report that White House adviser Hassett said that Trump was considering a 90-day pause of tariffs other than China was quickly denied, and renewed weakness was seen after Trump threatened a 50% escalatory tariff on China on Wednesday if their 34% retaliation was not removed by Tuesday. A subsequent move back to neutral had no clear trigger, though talk of possible deals with individual countries persisted.  

UST yields were significantly higher and lifted USD/JPY to 148 from 146. EUR/USD saw only modest moves, recovering from a dip below 1.09. EUR/GBP was firmer, with GBP/USD falling to near 1.27. AUD/USD was weak, falling below .60, while USD/CAD was little changed.