USD/JPY climbs to session high as risk mood buoyed

Price now runs into minor resistance around 107.71-74 as Treasury yields and equities get a lift following Mnuchin's remarks that a "US-China trade deal is 90% complete". 10-year yields moved up to a high of 2.028% from around 2.007% prior to that while US equity futures jumped slightly as well.

 

That said, I'm not really buying into the optimism from his comments here. The deal can be 99% complete for all we know but if that 1% covers the more structural issues like the exchange rate and IP protection among other things, then it outweighs everything else because those remain the key sticking points in the deal right now.

 

To put it in "simpler" terms, this is like saying a Brexit deal is 90% complete but the outstanding issue left is solving the Irish border/backstop. It sounds good on paper but really, it isn't if you digest how negotiations are actually progressing.

 

It's going to take a lot more from either side to move towards a compromise and that'll begin with Trump and Xi finding some common ground for talks to resume again this weekend. Otherwise, I'd take the headline and the move higher here with a pinch of salt.