Overview: The US dollar's dramatic sell-off continues. It is off against nearly all currencies. Among the majors, the Swedish krona and Japanese yen are leading the money, and the euro surged through $1.17. Emerging market currencies are fully participating, with the JP Morgan Emerging Market Currency Index posting its fifth gain in six sessions. The greenback's retreat appears to have become decoupled with the equity market. The yen's strength, for example, had a limited impact on Japanese shares, which were narrowly mixed, with the Topix rising and the Nikkei falling. Asia Pacific bourses were mixed, though most of the large ones, including China, South Korea, Australia, and Taiwan advanced. Note that the shake-up in the chip space that saw Intel shares crushed at the end of last week lifted Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company up 10% and helped the Taiex rise 2.2%. European stocks were struggling, but the better than expected German IFO helped equities recover. US equities are trading higher after the S&P 500 posted back-to-back losses at the end of last week for the first time this month. Bond markets are also mixed. The European core is doing better than the periphery, but yields are +/- 2 bp. The US 10-year is near 57 bp. Gold is rallying for the seventh consecutive session at around $1944 is at new record levels. Its 2% gain is the most in three months. Oil, on the other hand, is little changed with the September WTI contract trading quietly around $41 a barrel, inside the pre-weekend range.....MUCH MORE
Asia Pacific
Japan reported it May All Industries Activity Index fell 3.5% in May after the April reading was revised to -7.6% from -6.4%. This is like a proxy for GDP. While the US and EMU report Q2 GDP this week, Japan's first estimate is not due until the middle of next month. Separately, the May Leading Index was revised lower (to 78.4 from 79.3) but still held on to a small gain from April's 77.7.
Hong Kong's imports and exports recovered in June, but not by as much as had been hoped. Exports fell 1.3% from a year ago, a 7.4% slide in May. Economists had project outright growth. Imports fell 7.1% from a year ago. Economists had expected that May's 12.3% slump would have been halved. The net result was an HKD33.3 bln deficit. Of note, Hong Kong's exports to China rose 8.8% from a year ago, while its exports to the US were 21.4% below a year ago (-14.4% in May). Exports to Taiwan were also stronger. Exports to Europe were weaker.
Helped by the economic recovery and government infrastructure spending, China reported June industrial profits rose 11.5% year-over-year, following May's 6% improvement. Still, profits were off 12.8% in H1 from a year ago. Private sector and foreign businesses trailed in the profit-recovery, underscoring the role of state-owned enterprises. Although the manufacturing sector led the rebound in the PMI to be released at the end of the week, it is the service sector that appears to be recovering quicker.....
While Mr. Chandler goes on to look at individual currencies our quick-n-dirty snapshot are the dollar futures:
It seems a long time ago the DXY was above 100, in reality it was May, just a couple months back.
