[MARKET ANALYSIS] JPY softens on GDP, AUD outperforms amid risk, DXY uneventful on a US holiday

Newsquawk Staff · 16 Feb 2026, 09:35 UTC

DXY resides in a narrow 96.875-97.017 range after eking modest gains in APAC hours, albeit in rangebound trade, after a lack of major catalysts and with US participants away on Monday. In terms of the week ahead, Tuesday sees the weekly ADP metrics ahead of Wednesday's FOMC minutes and Friday's Core December PCE and Q4 GDP. Further out, NVIDIA earnings are due Wednesday, 25th February - analysts are closely watching this release as a bellwether for AI infrastructure spending.
EUR/USD is little changed in a 1.1858-1.1872 range amid the absence of any major macro catalysts and with light newsflow from the bloc, while comments from ECB President Lagarde and news that the ECB is to make its repo backstop available to other central banks across the world did little to spur price action. The pair remains comfortably within Friday's 1.1847-1.1885 parameters.
GBP/USD edged back towards Friday's highs but with price action contained by resistance around 1.3650. Also, digesting comments from BoE's Mann that the UK economy is sluggish and tepid, with consumers spending less due to being scarred by high inflation. GBP/USD currently trades towards the upper end of a 1.3634-1.3660 range vs Friday's 1.3590-1.3659 band.
USD/JPY edged higher and returned to above the 153.00 level (152.63-153.46 intraday range) in APAC trade following weaker-than-expected preliminary Q4 GDP data for Japan. Meanwhile, this morning, BoJ Governor Ueda and Japanese PM Takaichi held informal talks, in which Ueda said he will not comment on the details but PM Takaichi did not have a specific policy request - no move seen on this.
Antipodeans are outperforming G10 peers with the AUD and NZD taking impetus from the gains across stocks in European trade amid a lack of tier-1 catalysts in otherwise quiet trade, with the US closed today and China away till next week.

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US Market Open, 28 Oct, 10:34 UTC · what it led with

NQ futures outperform following SK Hynix's upbeat earnings.
DXY flat; NZD hit after the RBNZ unexpectedly held rates steady.

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