Yen Reverses Earlier Gains Against Higher Beta FX, But Overall Moves Modest

Overall G10 forex moves have been fairly modest in the first part of Tuesday trade. The BBDXY sits little changed, last near 1260.6, close to end Monday levels from NY trade. Early yen strength, particularly against higher beta FX has reversed as the session progressed.

• USD/JPY has seen modest volatility, albeit in the first half of the session. The pair saw an early dip to 153.62 as US equity futures weakened, but there no follow through. We last track in the 154.15/20 region, close to session highs, but only marginally above end Monday levels.
• Earlier data showed mixed labor market trends, with unemployment rate easing to 2.5% in Japan, but the job-to-applicant ratio also falling. The data didn't impact sentiment.
• AUD and NZD are off earlier lows, aided by US equity futures moving away from session levels (although the benchmarks remain in the red). AUD/USD was last 0.6555 against an earlier low of 0.6534).
• Regional equity market sentiment has mostly been in the red, with Hong Kong and tech sensitive markets weaker.
• NZD/USD has outperformed, up nearly 0.30% to 0.5890/95. This has helped bring the AUD/NZD cross away from recent highs, the pair back to 1.1125/30.
• US yields are close to flat at this stage. Commodities are mostly under pressure., with oil, copper and iron ore all down, although this isn't impacting AUD greatly at this stage (outside of some AUD/NZD softness).
• Looking ahead we have US June JOLTS job opening data and July consumer confidence. In the EU, German preliminary July CPI and euro area Q2 GDP.