News:
- ECB's Coeure says Eurozone "urgently" needs higher growth
- ECB's Villeroy says Eurozone domestic demand is resilient
- Fed's Williams: US economy is going to power ahead - Livesquawk
- Paris financial centre may grow if the UK leaves the EU says ECB's Villeroy
- BOJ's Kuroda says they will monitor impact of negative rates on bank profits
- S&P highlight concerns over further Japanese economic stimulus
- Japan's Abe says he wants to amend the constitution during his term
- We've got away with it again says Abe advisor
- BOE's Broadbent has his doubts over digital currencies
- ESM's Regling says per capita growth in Europe and USA is moving at equal pace again
- Nippon Life not expecting USDJPY to fall below 110
- Option expiries 10am NY cut today 2 March
- Nikkei 225 closes up +4.11% at 16,746.55
Data:
- February 2016 UK Markit/CIPS construction PMI 54.2 vs 55.5 exp
- January 2016 Eurozone PPI -1.0% vs -0.7% exp m/m
- Swiss Q4 GDP qq +0.4% vs +0.1% exp
- Spanish jobless rises to 4.15m in Feb
- German machine orders -12% y/y in Jan
It's been a slow session by recent standards but not without opportunity as firmer equities lead to some cross-play consolidation.
Good showings by Asian equity markets had risk-on sentiment in the nostrils as Europe got underway and it wasn't long before USDJPY had kicked higher through Asian highs of 114.15 to post 114.45 so far with offers at 114.50 stemming the upward momentum. Strong sell interest into 115.00 with year-end yen repatriation in the mix is continuing to cast a shadow.
The yen-pair demand has put a floor under core pairs and that has helped limit USD rallies with EURUSD clinging onto 1.0850 and GBPUSD once again finding demand into 1.3900 after softer data and initial EURGBP demand. Cable has since climbed toward 1.4000 as EURGBP resumes its journey lower.
USDCHF has been underpinned but failing to breach 1.0000 as EURCHF found euro supply again while USDCAD has risen to 1.3470 on softer oil prices .
AUDUSD has also been underpinned by the risk appetite/cross plays but struggling to make further headway after its recent gains. NZDUSD continues to trawl around 0.6600 trying to make its mind up.
ADP employment change at 13.15 GMT the next risk event.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.