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Market Overview

Yen Continues to Shine as Trade Tension Escalates. AUD, NZD, CAD Suffer

Yen and Swiss Franc continue to dominate the market on risk aversion as trade tensions escalate. The US markets didn't perform too badly indeed. DOW closed just down -103.01 pts or -0.41% overnight at 24987.47. S&P was down -5.91 pts or -0.21%. NASDAQ even managed to gain 0.65 pts...

Swiss Franc and Yen Firmer on Mild Risk Aversion

Swiss Franc and Yen are trading as the strongest ones for today on mild risk aversion. A wave of buying is seen in Euro entering into US session. But for now, Euro is trading up against Dollar, Sterling and Aussie for the day only. Some attributes today's weakness in...

Yen Higher as Sentiments Weighed Down by Trade Tensions and Osaka Earthquake

Yen trades generally higher in Asian session today on mild risk aversion. Escalation of trade tension between US and China is a factor weighing on sentiments. The 6.1 earthquake in Osaka also pressures Japanese stocks. Nikkei is trading down -0.8% at the time of writing. Euro is broadly lower...

Dollar Surged on Hawkish Fed, Trade War Threat Ignored

Dollar surged broadly last week as Fed policymakers finally made up their mind on hiking a total of four times this year, as reflected in the new projections. The greenback was also helped by ECB monetary policy decision, with traders disappointed on the rate path. The headlines were then...

Stocks to Suffer, But Forex Steady as Trump Ignores Americans and Fires Another Shot in Trade War

US stocks futures are rocked by the announcement on formalizing the Section 301 tariffs against China. DOW futures point to triple digit loss at open and could threaten 25000 handle. The forex markets are relatively calm though. Euro is paring back some of yesterday's post ECB losses and takes...

Dollar Extending Post ECB Gains, Section 301 Tariffs Against China to be Formalized

Dollar is trading as the strongest one as partly helped by the post ECB selloff in Euro. In part, there were delayed reactions to the hawkish Fed announcement too, which indicates it will hike two more times this year. The greenback in extending it's strong, broad based gains in...

Euro Dives after ECB Announces to End QE this Year, But Interest Rates Will Stay Unchanged At least Through 2019 Summer

Euro drops sharply today as markets are not quite happy with ECB announcement. In particular, while deciding to end the asset purchase program this year, ECB said interest rate will remain at current level at least through 2019 summer. President Mario Draghi also sounds cautious as usual in the...

Trade War Offsets Hawkish Fed as Dollar Struggles, ECB to Take the Spotlight

Dollar got a very brief lift overnight as Fed delivered a hawkish rate hike. But it quickly lost steam as weighed down by concern over trade war between US and China. For today, the greenback is only trading slightly better than Australian Dollar, which is weighed down by its...

Dollar Soft as Markets Look Through Strong PPI to FOMC, Pound Lower on CPI Miss

Dollar is trading in soft tone in range against most major currencies except versus Yen and Sterling. The greenback shrugs off stronger than expected PPI as markets are awaiting FOMC rate hike, economic projections and press conference. Sterling is trading as the weakest one today as headline UK CPI...

Dollar Staying Range Bound as Fed Rate Hike Awaited

Dollar is generally staying in familiar range, except versus Japanese Yen as markets await FOMC rate decision today. The federal funds rate is expected to be lifted by 25bps to 1.75-2.00%. There is practically no chance for Fed to disappoint the markets. Yet, there are a number of questions...

Markets Struggle for Direction Despite Strong US CPI, Weak UK Wage Growth

The forex markets are struggling to find a clear direction today despite all the high profile events. US headline CPI jumped to 6 year high in May while core CPI also accelerated. But Dollar is getting no lift from it. UK wage growth missed expectation even though the overall...

Markets Steady as Kim Meets Trump, UK Job and US CPI to Guide

The financial markets are steadily optimistic so far this week and that can be reflected in the rebound in German bund yield and US 10 year yield. Yen is trading broadly lower today, followed by the Swiss Franc. Australian, New Zealand and US Dollar are trading mildly higher. Eyes...

Sterling Weakens after Poor Economic Data, More to Care than Kim-Trump Summit for Traders

While the spats between US and G6 countries made a lot of headlines, they're not much bothered by the market-smart investors who know what are important. The summit between North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un and US president Donald Trump is currently in the spotlight. But it will likely fade...

Markets Shrug G7 Chaos and Trade War, Euro Higher on Italy

Asian markets open the week rather firmly, shrugging of the Trump triggered chaos in G7 leaders meeting over the weekend. At the time of writing, Nikkei is trading up nearly 0.6% while HK HSI is up 0.28%. Focus has quickly turned to Kim-Trump summit in Singapore but that's unlikely...

Markets to Look Through G7 to Fed Hike and ECB Judgement Day

While trade tension between the US and its allies dominated the headlines last week, Euro emerged as the strongest major currency. Receding Eurozone internal political risks was a key factor. German 10 year bund yield hit as high as 0.52, comparing to 0.186 low just two weeks ago, before...

Canadian Dollar Shrugs Off Weak Employment Data, Yen Higher head of G7 Showdown

Safe haven flow is the main theme today as markets await G6+1 showdown in Canada. Yen is the biggest winner today, followed by Dollar. But these two remain the weakest ones for the week next to Canadian Dollar. Despite weaker than expected job data, CAD is indeed rather steady...

USDJPY Rebound at Risk as US Yields Reversed, G6+1 in Focus

Yen is picking up some strength in Asian session today while commodity currencies are generally lower. Pull back in US treasury yield is a factor that's support the Yen. 10 year yield hit as high as 2.992 over night but reversed to close at 2.933, down -0.042. That development...

EURGBP Jumps as Fortunes of Euro and Sterling Diverge

Swiss Franc and Euro remain the strongest ones together. They're riding on the expectation that ECB will finally announce to quit the asset purchase program next week. Meanwhile, Sterling starts to lag behind and suffers some heavy selling today. Brexit uncertainty is back in spotlight, in particular the stick...

Yen Staying Weak on Solid Risk Appetite, Dollar Follows

Japanese Yen is trying to recover in Asian session today but remains the weakest one for the week. Risk appetites have been be strong as risk of trade war is shrugged off by investors. DOW rose 346.41 pts or 1.40% to 25146.39. S&P 500 rose 023.55 pts or 0.86%...

Euro Surges as ECB Praet Hints at Judgement Call on QE Next Week

Canadian Dollar, Australian Dollar and Euro are the strongest major currencies today. Meanwhile, Swiss Franc, Yen and Dollar are the weakest one. The reason for the strength in Loonie is not exactly clear. But Canadian could be benefiting from report that US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin urged President Donald...