Havens Offered as Risk Sentiment Repairs

Following the sharp equity sell-off in the second half of last week, markets stabilised slightly on Monday, with gains of over 2% apiece for the main three US indices. This translated to haven FX being offered throughout the Monday session, prompting JPY and CHF to underperform all others in G10.

At the other end of the table, Antipodean and commodity-tied currencies benefited from the bounce in the reflation trade and oil & metals prices. AUD/USD has now bounced close to 80 pips off the recent lows, but still remains shy of the cycle highs printed mid-last week.

US data was largely ineffectual, despite February's US Manufacturing ISM beating expectations. Prices paid drew particular focus, surging to new cycle highs of 86.0 vs. Exp. 80.0 - the highest since 2008.

Focus Tuesday turns to the RBA rate decision, German retail sales, prelim Eurozone CPI numbers and Canadian GDP. Fedspeak continues ahead of the blackout period at the end of this week, with Brainard and Daly both on tomorrow's docket.