A peace deal between Oman and Iran appears to be on the verge of approval, which has settled fears over the looming energy crisis and allowed markets to surge with confidence. Equity markets barrelled into record territory, while bond yields weakened considerably. The US intervention into the Yen, in combination with the Bank of Japan, is an extremely rare event. This is to support the US Treasury market, as the Bank of Japan would be forced to sell US Bonds, ‘en masse’, to support the Yen. This is a short-term solution to what may prove to be a much greater problem. The US Dollar eased, with the EUR jumping to 1.1550, while the GBP pushed up above 1.3450.The softer reserve allowed for the further recovery of commodity currencies, with the AUD moving up to 0.7050, while the NZD approaches 0.5900. Earlier in the domestic trading day, the NZ Dollar has suffered downward pressure, following a worse than expected Unemployment number. NZ Unemployment rose to 5.6%, an eleven year high, showing economic conditions are pretty tough out there. All eyes now turn to US employment data, when the Non-Farm Payrolls number is released, Friday.
