SNB Left Policy Unchanged, Greece Close To Exit

 | Jun 19, 2015 05:00AM ET

Market Brief

In Japan, the BoJ kept unchanged its asset purchased program at ¥80tn per year and maintained its assessment of the economy, saying that the economy has continued to recover moderately. The Nikkei extended gains and reached 20,174, up 0.92%. USD/JPY is currently testing the resistance lying at 123.20. On the medium-term, we expect USD/JPY to weaken further against the backdrop of disappointing US economic data. Yesterday, data from the US were mixed. The Philadelphia Business Outlook index rose to 15.2 in June versus 8 expected and 6.7 prior read. The index of US leading indicators surprised markets to the upside, jumping 0.7% in May after a similar performance in April. On the dark side, May CPI figures printed at 0.4%m/m versus 0.5% expected while Core CPI came in at 0.1%m/m – the smallest increase this year - versus 0.2% median forecast. In our opinion, the latest development in inflation trend indicate that the Fed will have to increase rate at a very moderate pace. Moreover, if the cost of living doesn’t increase in the US, it will force the Fed to start the tightening cycle from a later date. EUR/USD traded range-bound between 1.14 and 1.1350 in Tokyo after the sharp moves from yesterday. The euro will find support around 1.1220 (Fib 61.8% on May debasement) while the closest resistance can be found at 1.1467 (high from May 15).