US futures have pared early gains and bond yields are still holding slightly higher on the balance of things in European morning trade. In FX, we are seeing the dollar keep more mixed as there doesn't seem to be a coherent theme across markets at the moment.
EUR/USD is up 0.15% to 1.0843 as the euro keeps more resilient since yesterday and continues to angle for a further upside breakout. Meanwhile, USD/JPY is moving up to fresh highs for the day around 129.40 as the volatility trip in the yen continues to play out following the BOJ policy decision earlier this week.
The pair is still very much caught in a downtrend though and the series of lower highs, lower lows will continue to be a key technical pattern to watch in deciding what comes next for the pair. But for now, any upside push needs to at least try and clear the 130.00 hurdle to really gather any poise.
Elsewhere, GBP/USD is down at the lows for the day around 1.2340 levels as the upside push from earlier in the week falters. The poor UK retail sales data earlier today also isn't helping with pound sentiment, as it underscores a collapse in UK consumer spending.
In the bigger picture, it's a question of whether we will see a firm breakout above 1.2400 or a drop back below support at around 1.1900 on the daily chart for cable.
Despite equities paring gains slightly, the antipodeans are still leading the charge today. AUD/USD is still up 0.5% to 0.6930 levels but is backing off after running into a test of its 200-hour moving average:
There are large expiries for the pair at 0.6900 so that will also potentially help to limit any downside in price action for the moment, before we get to US trading later today.
