The early tone in Asian markets hasn't been great as the yen rallies and oil slips.
JPY is the best performer in the first hours of trading, rising by as much as 25 pips against both NZD and GBP. The yen gains extended after a poor Japanese Q3 GDP revision and strong Japanese trade data.
I suspect the market is struggling with sentiment around omicron. Hard data continues to be limited and conclusions about the impact impossible. The mainstream thinking is that it appears less severe than delta but that could change as it spreads. Data today from South Africa also showed a slowing pace of infection.
A good news sign is that Americans are rushing to get vaccines and that's likely to be the case everywhere. Ultimately, that's what is going to get life back to normal.
For now, we will continue to see an ebb and flow around sentiment and headlines related to omicron.
NZDJPY daily
