North American Summary and Highlights 12 Jan
Overview - The USD was mostly slightly weaker after the announcement of a DoJ investigation into Fed Chair Powell, but USD/JPY saw renewed gains.
North American session
US markets saw a moderate response to the Justice Dep’t investigation into Fed Chair Powell in a session with little else for markets to focus on. With UST yields correcting early gains and equites modestly higher. USD/JPY advanced to 158.20 while EUR/USD peaked near 1.17 before correcting to 1.1665. GBP/USD held up better as EUR/GBP slipped below .8670. AUD/USD outperformed rising to .9320 while USD/CAD was little changed near 1.3880.
European morning session
The USD was slightly lower across the board through the European morning. EUR/USD gained 10 pips to 1.1685, while USD/JPY also edged slightly lower, although EUR/JPY was a tad firmer. GBP was the best performer, with GBP/USD up 30 pips, while the scandis and commodity currencies moved in line with the EUR.
There was little news of any note, with t data confined to the Sentix economic sentiment survey for the Eurozone which showed an improvement to its best level since July. FX moves look more driven by the concerns about Fed independence and Japanese political uncertainty.