USD Supported On Dips, Consolidating Strong Gains For The Week

The BBDXY has gravitated higher as the Friday Asia Pac session has unfolded. The Index was last near 1252.70, still sub intra-session highs from Thursday (~1253.7), but consolidating strong gains for the week (+0.80% at this stage).

• US cash Tsy yields sit 1-2bps lower across the benchmarks. News flow has been light but 10yr futures may be seeing some support around the 108 region, particularly in light of this week's sharp sell-off. US equity futures are close to flat, while regional equities are mixed.
• USD/JPY is close to flat, with lower US yields helping curb gains at the margin. The pair was last near 153.25, so still very close to recent highs (153.32). In the early part of trade we had further FX jawboning from FinMin Suzuki. The comments didn't shift yen sentiment though, with dips sub 153.00 supported.
• NZD/USD is around 0.6000, slightly outperforming most other pairs in the G10 space. We had softer PMI and card spending updates from earlier, suggesting a still challenged economic backdrop.
• AUD/USD is near 0.6530, down slightly for the session. Post US CPI lows just under 0.6500 remain intact. This week's sharp rise in US yields has offset a generally more favorable commodity price backdrop. Iron ore is back towards $109/ton.
• Looking ahead, UK growth data headlines the calendar on Friday, before UMich consumer sentiment and inflation expectations will be the US focus.