Headlines:
- The bond selloff resumes
- UK March flash services PMI 61.0 vs 58.0 expected
- Eurozone March flash services PMI 54.8 vs 54.2 expected
- Germany March flash manufacturing PMI 57.6 vs 55.8 expected
- France March flash services PMI 57.4 vs 55.0 expected
- SNB leaves policy rate unchanged at -0.75%, as expected
- SNB's Jordan says can't give a pain threshold for Swiss franc exchange rate
- BOJ's Kataoka: Sees no prospect of BOJ tightening policy
- BOJ's Kataoka: A weaker yen is positive for Japanese economy as a whole
- Japan says North Korea projectile may be new type of inter-ballistic missile
- North Korea fired what could be a ballistic missile - Japan coast guard
Markets:
- CAD leads, JPY and NZD lag on the day
- European equities mixed; S&P 500 futures up 0.5%
- US 10-year yields up 4.9 bps to 2.37%
- Gold up 0.6% to $1,954
- WTI flat at $115.01
- Bitcoin up 1.4% to $42,974
The selloff in the bond market is recommencing and that is helping to underpin yen pairs on the day.
USD/JPY moved up from 121.20 to 121.70 on the session with the dollar keeping little changed for the most part elsewhere. There are just light changes among major currencies with EUR/USD keeping just below 1.1000 still.
Equities are holding up for the most part with US futures looking upbeat, though European indices are more mixed with little movement observed since the open.
The SNB kept policy unchanged and euro area PMI defied estimates but reaffirmed some slowdown in manufacturing conditions particularly, as inflation pressures surged to fresh record highs - keeping the pressure on the ECB as well.
US jobless claims will be up next but it will not distract from the continued focus on yields and in FX, the yen at the moment.
