JPY: Stronger Yen Hits Business Confidence in Japan - MUFG Lee Hardman, Currency Analyst at MUFG, suggests that the weakness in the Japanese equity market and the strengthening of the yen likely reflects as well a further loss of investor confidence in Abenomics following the release overnight of...
Euro Rises As Eurozone Manufacturing Growth Improves The euro strengthened against the other major currencies in the Asian session on Friday, after data showed that the Eurozone manufacturing growth improved more than initially estimated in March...
US: Less Dovish Fed Speak – Investec Research Team at Investec, notes that in terms of US economic data yesterday, the main takeaway was further improvement in US manufacturing, with the March Chicago PMI reading showed an increase of 6pts last month to a better than expected 53.6 (vs. 50...
GBP: Final Reading of Q4 UK GDP Revised Up – Investec Research Team at Investec, notes that yesterday saw UK Quarterly GDP growth for Q4 last year was revised up a touch, to +0.6% from +0.5% previously estimated. Key Quotes “For the year 2015 as a whole, growth was also revised up by 0.1pp, to 2...
Indonesian Bond Climbs on Fuel-Price Cut Expectation The Indonesian sovereign bonds rose on Friday, pushing the 10-year yield down the most in a month, on speculation a cut in domestic fuel prices will keep inflation in check. The price consumers pay for gasoline was lowered 7...
UK Manufacturing Growth Improves Less Than Expected British manufacturing growth improved less-than-expected in March, though slightly, survey figures from Markit Economic showed Friday...
BOJ’s Sakurai: Current Yen Not Too High vs its Level in 2012 Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) Sakurai, while commenting on exchange rate said the current level of Yen is not too highs compared to the one seen in 2012...
UK Manufacturing PMI Stays Around 34-Month Low in March The seasonally adjusted Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) printed at 51.00 in March missing the estimate of 51.2, but bettering the Feb figure of 50.8. Key points The quarterly average stayed at a relatively subdued level of 51...
Sweden Manufacturing Growth Exceeds Forecast Sweden's manufacturing growth improved at a faster-than-expected pace in March, data from the Swedbank and the Swedish National Association of Purchasing & Logistics revealed Friday. The Purchasing Managers' Index, or PMI, rose to 53...
Commodity Currencies Slide Amid Risk Aversion Commodity currencies such as the Australian, the New Zealand and the Canadian dollars weakened against their major counterparts in the Asian session on Friday amid risk aversion, despite better-than-expected Chinese manufacturing surveys, as investors...
Russian Manufacturing Sector Contracts For Fourth Month Russia's manufacturing activity deteriorated for the fourth consecutive month in March, survey figures from Markit Economics showed Friday. The seasonally adjusted Purchasing Managers' Index, or PMI, dropped to 48.3 in March from 49...
Emerging Market Crisis Series: Major Shift in Gear After suffering since 2013 and more so at the start of the year, emerging market currencies had their best month since at least 1998 according to Bloomberg’s calculations...
Japanese Long Term Debt Climbs on Weak BoJ's Q1 Tankan Report The Japanese long term debt rallied on Friday after the Bank of Japan's quarterly Tankan report disappointed market as it will put more pressure on policymakers to unleash another round of stimulus in the upcoming policy meet...
US March NFP Preview: Downside Miss Expected – TDS Research Team at TDS, suggests that the March has a tendency to be a weaker month for nonfarm payrolls, as the creation of an average of 150K jobs over the last five years falls well short of the 200K+ average in both February and April...
BoJ Tankan Worsens – Deutsche Bank Taisuke Tanaka, Strategist at Deutsche Bank, suggests that the downward risk to USD/JPY is greater under worsening Japan-US economic conditions...
Low Commodity Prices, Market Volatility Continues to Weigh on Canada's Small Business Confidence Small business confidence in Canada deteriorated again in March after taking a break in February. The CFIB business barometer index dropped 2.4 points to 52.3 in March, the lowest since early 2009...
Indonesia Inflation Rises As Expected In March Indonesia's consumer price inflation accelerated as expected in March, though slightly, figures from the Central Statistical Agency showed Friday. The consumer price index rose 4.45 percent year-over-year in March, faster than the 4...
Oil Drops Amid Risk-off in Equities Oil benchmarks fell in Asia and remain weak in early Europe amid signs of risk aversion in the Asian equities. At the time of writing, WTI oil was down almost 1% at $38/barrel. Brent oil was down 0.67% at $40.06/barrel...
Australian Bonds Slump on Firm U.S Data The Australian 10-year bond tumbled on Friday, tracking U.S. trends after strong economic data from U.S...