EUR Nears 1.34, AUD & JPY Adrift

AUD labor market data disappoints; minister Amari sends JPY lower; Swiss PPI slows, EZ construction output falls; Spanish auction. Market turns to real estate market data; jobless claims, Philly fed index and by the end of the session NZD CPI.18 new trades were added on Tuesday to the Premium Insights. 1 of 2 CADJPY hit all targets, 1 of 2 EURUSD longs is near its final 1.3380 target. See Premium entry below for full detail.

AUDUSD is weaker after labor market data showed a marked deterioration. Employment declined 5.5K in December after posting 17.1K growth in November and the unemployment rate rose to 5.4% from upwardly revised 5.3%. AUDUSD fell about 80 points to 1.0495 and now trades around 1.0515.

JPY pairs moved sharply higher after Japan's economy minister Amari said that his Monday's (!) comments about excessive weakening of the JPY were misinterpreted. USD/JPY trades around 89.35 and EUR/JPY soared from 117.01 to 119.49.

The only report from the Eurozone was construction output that fell 0.4% in November after a flat reading in October. EURUSD trades higher around 1.3355.

Swiss PPI eased to 1.0% in December from prior 1.2% y/y

EURCHF pushed higher to 1.2457 and still trades near session high.

Spain sold various bonds totaling EUR 4.505 bln vs. EUR 3.5 -4.5 bln target. Average yields declined.

The US session begins at 8:30 am ET with building permits and housing starts that are both expected to improve in December to 0.91M, respectively to 0.89M. Jobless claims are seen marginally lower at 369K from 371K. Philly FED manufacturing index is anticipated to decline to 7.1 in January from prior 8.1.

NZD traders await Q4 CPI that is due by the end of the session at 4:45 pm. Prices are expected to rise 1.2% from 0.8% y/y and but slow to 0.1% from 0.3% q/q.