Yen Aims To Extend Gains As Market-Wide Selloff Continues

TALKING POINTS – JAPANESE YEN, STOCKS, AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR, CARNEY, FED

Yen soars, Aussie and Kiwi Dollars plunge as Asia Pacific stocks unravel

Comments from BOE’s Carney might not offer policy direction guidance

Fed commentary may amplify risk aversion signaled in stock index futures

The anti-risk Japanese Yen soared while the sentiment-anchored Australian and New Zealand Dollars traded broadly lower as the markets’ mood turned dour in Asia Pacific trade. The decline echoed weakness on Wall Street, with regional bourses losing nearly 2 percent on average.

HAWKISH FED COMMENTS MAY AMPLIFY MARKET SELLOFF

Looking ahead, a speech from BOE Governor Mark Carney amounts to the most eye-catching bit on the European economic calendar. He is scheduled to at a conference on “Machine Learning and the Market for Intelligence” however, so there seems to be limited scope for market-moving policy guidance.

Back-to-back comments from Fed officials may be a bit more impactful. Comments from regional branch presidents Neel Kashkari, Raphael Bostic and Robert Kaplan are due. If they echo the broadly hawkish tone of last week’s FOMC minutes release, worries about the pace of tightening may resurface.

That might amplify existing risk aversion. FTSE 100 and S&P 500 futures were pointing sharply higher before London and New York come online, hinting the liquidation seen in APAC hours is set to continue. That opens the door for the accompanying G10 FX response to find further follow-through.

ASIA PACIFIC TRADING SESSION

Asia Pacific Trading Session Economic Calendar