There were continuation moves during the timezone here today to open the week. On Friday Fed Chair Powell sent the USD higher and equity indexes lower with his speech promising ‘forceful’ Federal Reserve action to come. The USD climbed again here today and equities fell (Asian equities played catch up (catch down is a better description), US equity index futures dropped further).

Over the weekend we had speeches from ECB officials (see bullets above) expressing concern over the falling euro (its fuelling eurozone inflation) and also promising their own commitment to higher rates yet to come.

Bank of Japan Kuroda, too, spoke over the weekend. He reiterated, yet again, that the BOJ believes the current high CPI levels in Japan are transitory and there are no reasons for the Bank to tighten policy.

USD/JPY was a strong mover on the session, to highs above 138.50.

The USD strengthened more broadly too against other major FX.

usdyen update 33 29 August 2022