Weekend:

The USD gapped lower in the early hours of trade here in Asia. Early Monday sees super-thin liquidity as major FX centres open in turn, first New Zealand, followed by Australia, then Japan and Singapore/Hong Kong. This progression was interrupted somewhat today by a Japanese market holiday, which extended thin liquidity trading another hour or so.

The weakness for the USD saw fingers pointed at a shock poll in US state of Iowa showing Harris ahead. It was once a swing state but Trump won it by a large margin in 2016 and 2020.

Yen, EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD, NZD, CHF, all gained ground, as did China’s yuan. There was a minor retracement, but none of the gaps were filled and, as I post, the USD remains close to its session low.

Yen crosses have been a major focus for many months now as cross-currents from the US economy, Japanese economy, Federal Reserve monetary policy, Bank of Japan monetary policy, US elections, and the Japanese election played, and continue to play, out. On Friday USD/JPY hit highs above 153.00 and today during the session a 150 point drop from those highs took the pair back to lows circa 151.60.

US equity index futures rose in Sunday evening (US time) trade.

Oil prices gained after weekend news that OPEC+ agreed to extend its voluntary output cuts by another month, through until the end of December. The cartel had intended to begin returning 180,000 barrels a day to supply from December, but they will now keep supply curtailed until the end of 2024.

China's annual parliament, the National People’s Congress (NPC), began today. It runs through November 8. More fiscal stimulus measures are expected to be announced at its conclusion on Friday.

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