- US August NFIB small business optimism index 100.8 vs 101.0 expected
- Breaking news today: LiveBytes recap from investingLive.com
- USD/JPY retraces lower on the week after report on BOJ rate hike prospects
- US inflation data in focus this week but today will still be all about jobs
- BoJ is said to see chance of a hike this year despite politics
- FX option expiries for 9 September 10am New York cut
- South Korea reaffirms US trade negotiations are delayed due to $350 billion fund impasse
- Gold remains well supported as upside risks stay the course - Credit Agricole
It would have been a very boring session if it wasn't for a Bloomberg report saying that a BoJ rate hike was still on the cards for this year. The JPY got a boost from the headline and then extended the gains likely due to speculations of a cut coming already in October.
In the bigger picture, that wasn't new information as the market was already pricing basically a 50% chance for a hike by year-end, and that hasn't changed much after the Bloomberg report, even though the probabilities increased a bit.
Other than that, we haven't got any meaningful news or data release. Speaking of the data, there was just the US NFIB Business Optimism Index which improved slightly from the prior month. As for other business surveys, the economic conditions look positive and uncertainty continues to dimish, but the labour market remains frozen with low hiring and low firing.
That might change with the September Fed rate cut and expectations of more cuts coming in the next months...
