Europe Summary and Highlights 17 September
The USD was mixed through the European morning, with a risk negative bias to trading.
European morning session
EUR/USD declined modestly, slipping from 1.1855 to 1.1845. USD/JPY also fell back 15 pips to 146.35 after making initial gains. EUR/CHF fell 15 pips to 0.9318. AUD/USD also slipped 5 pips lower to 0.6670, while USD/CAD was 5 pips higher at 1.3755. EUR/SEK was steady, but the NOK was the weakest G10 currency on the morning, with EUR/NOK rising 4 figures to 11.62
EUR/GBP fell 10 pips to 0.8680 with GBP/USD unchanged. There was little initial reaction to the UK CPI data, which came in marginally weaker than expected with the core rate falling to 3.6% y/y, although the headline was in line with consensus at 3.8%. The final Eurozone CPI data saw the headline rate revised slightly lower to 1.0% but the core was unrevised at 2.3%
Asia session
The August Japan trade data has come in less worse than expected. While export to the U.S. slumped more than 10% y/y (headline -0.1%), the deficit in trade balance has been narrowed by lower energy prices, which shows import to contract by 5.2% y/y. USD/JPY is trading 0.06% lower at 146.38 as JGB outperform U.S. Treasury Yields.
Market participants are still waiting for FOMC with anticipation a 25bps cut. Global equities are performing individually with U.S. & Japan major equity indexes lagging and regional equities outperforming in China and Hong Kong. AUD/USD is trading 0.15% lower at 0.6675, NZD/USD is trading 0.12% lower at 0.5981 while USD/CAD rises 0.07%. Else, EUR/USD is down 0.07% and GBP/USD is up 0.01%.