Things seem to have perked up in Asia with the USD and JPY seeing some weakness overnight. EUR/USD is up at 1.3705 from a North American close Tuesday around 1.3645, while EUR/JPY is up at 132.15 from around 131.65. Risk sentiment is in good shape with Asian stockmarketss making gains, and this is underminning the USD and JPY.
The USD also got hit hard in it’s own right, underminned by an article in the F.T which raises the spectre of the US losing it’s triple A credit rating. David Walker, former comptroller of the US, warns that the US needs to take action to avoid a downgrade.
Improving risk sentiment managed to shrug off disappointing Chinese data. Factory output grew less than expected in April, rising by 7.3%, down from 8.3% in March and some way below median forcast of 8.6%.
