Forex and Bitcoin news for Asia trading Monday 12 February 2018

Monday:

Weekend:

Risk had a better session here in Asia today, following on Friday's late US stock rally. There was the odd piece of news and data over the weekend and during the day here, but nothing of too much market-moving significance at all. Nevertheless, regional stocks and some currency rallies ensured.

EUR/USD has had a small rally since the opening levels, from sub 1.2250 lows to just above 1.2280 as I update. USD/JPY is currently in more or less in the middle of its circa 108.60/95 range while EUR/JPY is on its session high.

AUD/USD, too, is pretty close to its session high. It was helped along earlier by AUD/NZD (macro fund) buying, but NZD/USD coming in with a bid after this has seen the kiwi do a bit of a catch up.

It was a Japanese market holiday today (reopen on Tuesday) which kept cash market UST trading thin - US 10yr futures slipped just a little. There will likely be a little more to come on this with reports surfacing detailing the US budget (announcement due Monday US time) - bigly spending more and more deficit upcoming. Hardly surprising. Trump's budget director Mick Mulvaney was on Fox on Sunday, saying the U.S. will post a larger budget deficit this year, which could "spike" interest rates as a result.

The volatility might have taken a breather in Asia today, but it looks set to return very soon indeed.