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The USD came under pressure against the AUD, which rallied on a stellar Australian jobs report, the JPY, which gained on hawkish sounding BoJ-speak, and the EUR, which extended to a 17-day high of 1.3870 in the early Asia session before settling under 1.3850. Read more
The dollar remained under pressure in N.Y. on Wednesday, with EUR-USD spending a good bit of time over the 1.3800 level. USD-JPY slipped to 101.75, though avoided stops reported under the overnight low of 101.55. There was little data to guide markets, though the FOMC minutes later took the dollar to new session lows, as the Fed jettisoned its jobless target, and sounded more dovish overall. Read more
Earlier this week, Japan voted to maintain their current interest rate and asset purchase policy. Contained within their statement was an assessment of Japan's current economic environment. In this post, I'll look at the data specifically mentioned in the BOJ's assessment of Japan's economy which highlights the continued slow upward slog of Japanese growth. Here are the salient points: Exports have recently leveled off more or less. Read more
The commodity-bloc currencies saw fresh highs before settling, while the dollar and euro consolidated, and the yen softened. EUR-USD dipped to a low of 1.3780 during the London AM and subsequently recovered to near net unchanged levels around 1.3800 after ECB's Weidmann said that there is only a limited risk of deflationary spiral. Read more
The AUD rose to a new high on data, and the yen softened during Tokyo trade after extending gains during the post-Europe New York session yesterday. The yen's pronounced strength over the last few days, which accelerated yesterday, weighted heavily on Japanese stock markets today, which conspicuously underperformed an otherwise bullish day across the Asia-Pacific region. Read more
Above are two charts of Conference Board's leading index (top chart) and coincident index (bottom chart). If the LEI's are to be believed, the EU economy should be taking off at this point. But the coincident index is barely moving. And the annual rate of GDP growth has barely turned positive: So -- why hasn't growth taken off? The answer lies in the components of the LEIs: 37.5% of the index is comprised of money supply growth. Read more
The dollar faded further in N.Y. trade on Tuesday, resulting in EUR-USD moving over 1.3800, and USD-JPY under 102.00. There was no data to drive the FX market, though general risk aversion, and geopolitical concerns kept traders cautious. The BoJ's lack of future guidance on potential easing measures supported the yen broadly, while in Europe, ECB speak from Monday reverberated. Read more
The dollar extended lower, across the board, as its post-jobs report losses. USD-JPY got the ball rolling during the Asia session in breaking below 103.00 and extending to an 11-day low of 102.51 during the London AM session. The move correlated with stock markets, which remained under pressure in Europe and Asia (which some commentaries blame on Ukraine-Russian tensions). Read more
Yen firmness was the main theme in pre-Europe trade in Asia. USD-JPY broke below 103.00 and left a low at 102.74, which is the lowest level seen since Mar-28. A subsequent rebound saw the 103.00 level retaken before the pair settled around the 102.90 mark. Read more
The dollar fell in N.Y. trade on Monday, as Wall Street took another beating, and as Treasury yields slipped. EUR-USD traded to near 1.3750 from opening levels near 1.3720, as USD-JPY eased into the 103.00 level. USD-CAD faded under 1.1000, while cable reclaimed the 1.66 handle. Read more
 and coincident index (bottom chart). If the LEI's are to be believed, the EU economy should be taking off at this point. But the coincident index is barely moving. And the annual rate of GDP growth has barely turned positive:
So -- why hasn't growth taken off?
The answer lies in the components of the LEIs:
37.5% of the index is comprised of money supply growth.&p[images][0]=http://xecommunityassets.s3.amazonaws.com/EU1.png){kind=link}