Headlines:
Markets:
- JPY leads, CHF lags on the day
- European equities lower; S&P 500 futures flat
- US 10-year yields up 3.8 bps to 4.159%
- Gold up 0.4% to $2,032.42
- WTI crude up 0.6% to $69.75
- Bitcoin down 1.2% to $43,282
The big mover in trading today is the Japanese yen, as it ran riot against the rest of the major currencies bloc. USD/JPY was already down after BOJ governor Ueda talked about a policy exit in Asia, sitting lower around 146.80. Then, Ueda went on to meet with Japan prime minister Kishida and came out talking about the importance of wages in their next policy steps.
That hints that they are now aligned with Tokyo to potentially move in March or April next year to start scaling back on their ultra easy policy settings. As such, the yen rallied further with USD/JPY tumbling all the way to a low of 144.55 in European morning trade before recovering to around 145.10 now – still down by 1.5% today.
Other major currencies are not standing much of a chance as they are all jumbled up together, keeping little changed. The commodity currencies were initially lagging but covered those slight declines during the session. European currencies showed little interest as the dollar kept steadier outside of the yen.
Equities were tentative throughout, as traders seem to be content to wait until tomorrow’s US jobs report after the retreat in Wall Street yesterday. That despite a minor bounce in bond yields on the day, mostly led by a surge higher in Japanese bond yields following Ueda.