FX Update: USD joins JPY in traditional safe haven role

Trading focus:

JPY strength is not just about USDJPY anymore, as all JPY crosses head south and the USD starts to play second fiddle more loudly as safe haven in non-JPY crosses.

The Friday action was rather confounding relative to historic patterns, as the weakening risk sentiment into the close of US trading for the week continue to drive the JPY stronger across the board – no big surprise there – but failed to register much at all in the smaller currencies’ fortunes against the US dollar. An odd-ball development like the ongoing USDZAR collapse late in the week was only modestly reversed on Friday. Perhaps the thinking was that as long as weak risk sentiment is mostly limited to the bubbly US markets, the volatility was actually USD-indifferent or even USD- negative at the margin. Also in the mix last week was the long term takeaway from the FOMC’s new Average Inflation Targeting regime, which is profoundly USD-bearish for the long term, assuming that inflation comes roaring back in the US and the Fed is slow to respond as long as unemployment is high (with the overriding assumption that US negative real rates would be worse than elsewhere in this AIT regime).

But the here and now of risk-on and risk-off can’t wait for long term implications rolled out by the Fed last week, it appears. And what we are seeing this morning is a deleveraging move that is suddenly far more global in nature, with especially European equity markets off to an ugly lurch lower to start the week. So the JPY continues stronger here, but the USD has moved back to the strong side against everything else – early “days” yet for the move, but we’ll watch the 1.1750 area again in EURUSD and, for example, 1.3250 in USDCAD and the 0.7200 area in AUDUSD for signs that the USD safe haven bid is coming back in, regardless whether USDJPY continues trading lower toward the next major support zone into 100.00. The implications of more USD strength and USDJPY pushing to 100.00 are obvious for key JPY crosses – EURJPY, AUDJPY and as we look at below, GBPJPY.

Chart: GBPJPY
Rolling two developments into one here, as an ugly weakening in global risk sentiment, with Europe finally waking up to the weakness shown in the US last week, has the JPY bashing its way stronger across the board, accelerating the GBPJPY sell-off. The pair now looks in full capitulation mode and could be set for a test of the 130.00 area again if some new Brexit news doesn’t shift sentiment. The UK, and London in particular, is at risk of new partial virus-related shutdowns and the negative rates talk from the BoE last week seems to have created  a more negative focus that the first positive signs from Brexit talks were unable to offset.