USD continues to rise, bolstered by the latest GDP readings, while commodity currencies benefit from signs of an improvement in the situation in China.
Today has seen FX markets continue their reversal from price action seen on `Black Monday`, with the USD the notable outperformer to spend the day firmly in the green. USD strength has been a trend in recent days after the sharp losses seen on Monday, with the greenback further bolstered today by comments from upward revisions to Q2 GDP (Q/Q 3.70% vs. Exp. 3.20%, Prev. 2.30%) as well as comments from Fed’s George while kicking off the Jackson Hole symposium, stating that she believes a hike in interest rates is "on the table" at every meeting. Of note, George also suggested that recent volatility in financial markets is a `complication` for the FOMC. As has been the case over the past few days, USD strength has been met with EUR weakness, as the pick-up in sentiment saw EUR under pressure as a result of its role as a funding currency.
Separately from the USD, the other notable FX price action comes from commodity currencies, with the likes of CAD, AUD, RUB and NOK all strengthening today, as both the energy and metals complex begin to claw back some of the losses seen on the back of China concerns with WTI and Brent Oct’15 futures above USD 40 and USD 45 respectively. This comes as the Shanghai Composite closed out its session higher, thereby ending a five day losing streak, while further intervention looks to be taking place by Chinese officials as source reports suggested that China is to reduce the amount of its US Treasury holdings in order to facilitate manageable depreciation of the CNY, and reports later on in the session citing analysts at Central China Securities (HK:1375) pointed out that the rally in Chinese equities may be a result of purchases from the state.
Looking ahead, tomorrow sees the preliminary reading of UK GDP, CPI data from Japan and Germany, personal income, PCE deflator and University of Michigan sentiment final reading from the US, as well as comments from the Jackson Hole Symposium including from SNB’s Jordan, BoE’s Carney and the Fed’s Mester and Kocherlakota.