Europe Summary and Highlights 7 February

European morning session

USD/JPY and USD/CHF moved modestly higher in a quiet European morning, while GBP/USD also made small gains. Most other USD pairs were little changed. USD/JPY gained around 30 pips to 152.10, while EUR/CHF gained 10 pips to 0.9415. GBP/USD rose 25 pips to 1.2450.

News was thin on the ground. German data early on saw weaker than expected December industrial production, which fell 2.4% m/m, but the underlying trend remained quite static after a 1.3% gan in November. German trade data showed a larger than expected EUR 20.7bn surplus in December, but the data had no significant impact. EUR/USD did gain around 20 pips from opening levels to reach 1.04 in mid-session, but fell back by the end of the morning.

Asia session

The Japan December Household Spending y/y has finally shown signs of improvement as it grew by +2.7%. It is a good sign for the Japanese economy as private consumption has been hindering the growth in 2024. An improving consumption and higher wage dynamic would be great for the BoJ to see. USD/JPY is trading 0.17% higher at 151.6 after touching the session low of 150.95.

Regional equities in China and Hong Kong are solid while Nikkei treaded lower. U.S. equity indexes are in the green as sentiment feels more calm on Friday.  AUD/USD is unchanged at 0.6284, NZD/USD is up 0.03% and USD/CAD rose 0.09%. Else, EUR/USD is down 0.03% and GBP/USD is down 0.06%.