Forex Today: Aussie pops & drops on jobs, Yen dips on BOJ, UK retail sales, ECB - Key

Forex today witnessed an eventful Asian session this Thursday, which kicked-off with the Japanese trade figures, followed the by Australian jobs and business confidence data, which had a limited positive impact on the Aussie. AUD/USD popped to fresh 2-year highs at 0.7987 on the Aus data releases, although quickly faded the upward spike to now trade in negative territory around 0.7940 levels. Its OZ neighbor, also, turned lower amid cautious market sentiment.

Meanwhile, the BOJ steady policy announcement was widely expected, but the Yen weakened against its American counterpart after the BOJ scaled back CPI expectations for the sixth time. Cable and EUR/USD traded modestly flat awaiting fresh fundamental catalysts from the session ahead.

Main topics in Asia

Australian June employment report: Solid reading, full time jobs soar

Australian June employment report came solid, with the employment change at 14k vs 15k exp and 42k prior, with full time job creation at 62k vs 52k last, while part time jobs came at -48k vs -10.1k last.

NAB - Exuberance in the business sector contradicts household sector slowdown

National Australia Bank's (NAB) business confidence remained steady at 7 q/q in Q2. 

US House budget committee approves fiscal 2018 budget plan that could be path to tax overhaul

As per Reuters report, House Republicans took the first step yesterday towards a plan to overhaul the US tax code.

BOJ keeps policy steady, upgrades economic outlook

The Bank of Japan (BOJ) concluded its 2-day policy review meeting, leaving left the monetary policy settings unadjusted, holding rates at -10bps, while maintaining 10yr JGB yield target at 0.00%.

BOJ: Risks to economy, prices are skewed to downside

The Bank of Japan (BOJ) pushed back the timing for hitting 2% inflation target and now sees inflation reaching the price target around fiscal 2019, the policy statement showed on Thursday.

Key Focus ahead

Next on tap for the markets, in terms of the economic events, remain the BOJ post-policy decision press conference due to be addressed by Governor Kuroda, while the German PPI data will be also on the cards pre-European open. In Europe, the Eurozone current account and UK retail sales figures will be published. However, the main risk event for today remains the ECB policy decision and Draghi’s presser.

Moving on, the US docket offers the usual weekly jobless claims, followed by Philly Fed manufacturing index and consumer confidence numbers from the Euroland.

GBP/USD holds above 38.2% Fib ahead of the UK retail sales release

GBP/USD did fail at the resistance offered by the trend line sloping downwards from Aug 2015 high and May 2016 high, but the subsequent losses have been capped around 1.3006 - 38.2% Fib R of 1.2812-1.3126. 

EUR/USD: Bulls defending 1.15 handle ahead of ECB

The EUR/USD pair extends its defensive mode into Asia, although holds above 1.15 handle, as investors gear up for the ECB monetary policy decision for the next direction.

ECB Preview: ECB this week to toughen their language marginally - BAML

Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) analysts offers a sneak peek into Thursday’s ECB monetary policy decision and its impact on the common currency.

ECB: to keep its asset purchases open-ended? - BBH

Analysts at Brown Brothers Harriman explained that a press report, citing an unspecified official, suggested that the ECB wants to keep its asset purchases open-ended.