Asia Summary and Highlights 19 June

Asia Session

The Japan May trade balance has come in less negative than expected with export beats but import misses. Export to China and U.S. have shown significant growth while EU sags. It should be read as a positive sign for Japan's second quarter economic growth. The resumption of expansion in import, though missed expectations, are a positive sign for private consumption. USD/JPY is trading unchanged at 157.84 as JGB yields outpaced their U.S. counterpart.

Regional sentiment is mixed with only the HSI in the green as The Hong Kong exchange now enable trading during severe weather condition. U.S. three major equity indexes. AUD/USD is trading 0.11% higher at 0.6663, NZD/USD is down 0.21% to 0.6131 while USD/CAD rose 0.02%. Else, EUR/USD is down 0.04% and GBP/USD is down 0.01%.

North American session

The USD dipped on a weaker than expected May US retail sales number, up 0.1% overall, and excluding autos and gas, and down 0.1% ex autos, with modest negative back month revisions. A subsequent stronger than expected 0.9% increase in industrial production, with manufacturing also up by 0.9%, had little impact. There was plenty of Fed talk, with Collins, Logan and Musalem sounding hawkish. Williams, Barkin, Kugler and Goolsbee were more balanced, but few sounded notably dovish.

USD/JPY and EUR/USD finished not far from where they were shortly after the data, around 157.80 and 1.0740 respectively, compared to 158.10 and 1.0715 before the data.  AUD/USD above .6650 and USD/CAD near 1.3720 extended their initial post-data moves, as did GBP/USD which moved above 1.27 though EUR/GBP ended little changed. EUR/CHF remained weak, falling to .8490.