Forexlive Americas FX news wrap: USD/JPY breaks 160.00 and keeps on rising

• Japan’s top currency diplomat: Seriously concerned about recent rapid yen weakening
• US May new home sales 0.619m vs 0.640m expected
• ECB’s Lane: If baseline holds, there will be more cuts
• Pierre Andurand ditches oil in favor of copper and cocoa
• US 5-year notes sell at 4.331% vs 4.335% WI
• The latest poll puts Le Pen at 36%
• EIA US weekly crude oil inventories +3591K vs -2850K expected
• Martin Schlegel named new chairman of the Swiss National Bank
• ECB’s Kazaks: There is no need to rush with monetary easing
• Canada May advance wholesale trade -0.9%

Markets:

• Gold down $21 to $2298
• WTI crude oil down 19-cents to $80.64
• US 10-year yields up 8.2 bps to 4.32%
• S&P 500 up 0.2%
• AUD leads, JPY lags

It was a lively day in the FX market with the US dollar leading the way.

The Australian and Canadian inflation reports this week got some attention but the main market takeaway is that similarly sticky inflation could be coming to the US, especially with the PCE report due on Friday. Bonds sold off and the higher yields helped the US dollar and created some risk aversion in equities.

The dollar was broadly higher and particularly strong against the yen. Some strong verbal intervention from Kanda tried to counter the move above 160.00 but he also said there wasn’t a particular level they were watching. Some in the market took that as an invitation to press the pair to 160.82 and up more than 100 pips on the day.

That’s a dangerous dance and Tokyo will be waking up soon so that’s certainly a chart to keep on the screen.

It wasn’t just the yen that fell cable hit a six-week low and the euro sagged. It was all part of a broad US dollar bid. The mystery is whether quarter-end considerations are driving a portion of the move or if there is a fundamental backing.

Tech stocks remain volatile but the bulls got a late-day win as a 2% decline in NVDA shares turned into a slight gain. However after the close, shares of Micron were beaten up after earnings.

This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com.