- Draft of plan to curb yen strength released
- NAB Australian business confidence to -4 in Q3 from +5 in Q2
- Shirakawa: Global economic growth slowing, watching Europe
- S&P downgrades Slovenia to AA- from AA, outlook stable
- AUD, NZD, EUR lag; JPY, USD lead
- Gold down $25 to $1621
- Copper down 3.3%
Good sized moves on a day, especially with virtually nothing on the calendar. The risk trade was in fashion in the early going as EUR/USD moved up 30 pips to 1.3782 but that would be all. Worries that Europe will fail to deliver this weekend are front and center. The fears prompted a slow, steady 70 pip fall in EUR/USD through the remainder of the session.
The same pattern played out across the board, especially in AUD. The declines coincided with the NAB release but that was mostly coincidence. Selling in everything else picked up as yen buyers emerged following the toothless and predictable Japanese plan to soften the yen. The AUD/USD range was 1.0263 to 1.0175.
Regional stocks all negative. Australia -1.4%, Korea -0.2%, Japan -0.9%, India -1.4%, Hong Kong -2.0%, Shanghai -2.0%
