European Summary and Highlights 07 Feb

European morning session

The USD generally edged a little higher through the European morning in quiet trade. GBP ws the best performer, with GBP/USD gaining 30 pips and EUR/GBP losing 15 pips, although there was no significant UK news behind the move. USD/JPY edged a little higher to 148.15 after a dip below 148 early on, and the USD was also a tough higher against the AUD, but EUR/USD was little changed around 1.0765.

The main news was weak German industrial production data for December, which fell a much larger than expected 1.6% m/m, extending the very negative 3m/3m downtrend to close to an annualised 9%. Swedish monetary policy minutes indicated that here was more of a case for easing than in November, but Deputy governor Jansson played down the chance of an easing as early as the March meeting. EUR/SEK was not much changed on the session.

Asia session

The FX market on Wednesday's Asia session was range bound with early USD weakness mostly reversed. The Q4 New Zealand Employment data beats estimate with 4% unemployment rate and showed a strong market with rising wage. While we do not think such beat would sway the RBNZ towards a hike, the Kiwi traders still cheer the strong report. Along with residue optimism of Chinese stimulus in the equity market, NZD/USD rose to 0.6111 before retracing partial gains to trade 0.07% higher at 0.6101, AUD/USD also trades 0.05% higher at 0.6525 while USD/CAD slipped 0.03% to 1.3487.

U.S. Treasury Yields are lower across the curve with equities performing individually. As JGB yields are also lower, USD/JPY is trading unchanged at 147.94 Elsewhere, EUR/USD is up 0.05% and GBP/USD 0.02% higher.