Forex moves remain sidelined during Friday’s Asian session with traders awaiting key US employment data. Though, optimism surrounding the US-China trade relations remains on the card while the US President Donald Trump again pushed the Fed for a rate cut. Elsewhere, Firth cut Hong Kong’s credit rating whereas the US-Iran tussle continues with the White House confirming no U-turn from “maximum pressure” policy to France.
While EUR/USD, GBP/USD and USD/JPY registered fewer moves, NZD/USD was the winner of the Asian session with the USD/CHF pair standing on the other side. WTI benefited from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) report and geopolitical tension between the US and Iran while but Gold struggles to justify recently cautious momentum. Global bond yields are on the sidelines with the 10-year US counterpart marking 1.57% by the press time of pre-European session.
Moving on, German Industrial Production and Eurozone GDP will be in the traders’ radar ahead of focusing on much bigger issues concerning the US and Canadian employment data and speech from the Fed Chair Jerome Powell.
Main Topics in Asia
BoJ’s Kuroda: Considering a variety of additional easing possibilities
Fitch downgrades Hong Kong to ‘AA’ from ‘AA+
US Pres. Trump: If the Fed would lower rates then I really wouldn’t worry about a recession
White House: US Pres. Trump tells French Pres. Macron that Iran sanctions will not be dropped now
China’s Official: US tariffs on Chinese goods “bullying” – Australian Press
G10 currencies to take cues from US-China trade war, Fed song – Reuters poll
Iran takes further step to decrease nuclear commitments – Reuters
Labour plot to trap UK PM Johnson by delaying general election until November – Telegraph
Key Focus Ahead
Germany’s Industrial Production numbers gain the immediate attention of markets as the July month seasonally adjusted MoM reading expects to deviate from latest downbeat performance of German data. After that, investors will move on to the second quarter (Q2) seasonally-adjusted GDP, which isn’t expected to change from 0.2% QoQ and 1.1% YoY. Furthermore, Canada’s employment data for August are less likely to renew optimism surrounding the Canadian Dollar (CAD) considering the latest dovish comments from the Bank of Canada’s policymaker.
With this, the US jobs report for August and the Fed Chair’s speech in Zurich undoubtedly become the key events of the day. Even if the forecast suggests a pullback in the headline NFP number, Thursday’s ADP data have raised questions on the outlook and any upside surprise will be well received considering the recent U-turn of the greenback.
When is the German Industrial Production and how could it affect EUR/USD?
A drop in the German Industrial Production will likely exacerbate recession fears, possibly triggering a sell-off in the common currency. The EUR/USD pair is already on the defensive, having created a Doji candle on Thursday.
GBP/USD logs three-day winning streak on Brexit-positive headlines ahead of US NFP
With the receding chances of no-deal Brexit, the GBP/USD pair stays firm around 1.2330 after witnessing three consecutive positive daily closings ahead of Friday’s UK session open. Investors now await Brexit headlines, US jobs report for fresh direction.
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