Asia Market Quick Take – 14 August, 2026

Earnings this week:

• Friday: Kweichow Moutai

FX:

• USD is modestly softer versus G10 peers, with EUR, GBP and AUD slightly higher and the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index broadly flat as moderating US inflation reinforces expectations the Fed will keep rates on hold into September. NZD has outperformed a 14‑currency basket.
• USDJPY is again pressing toward 160 despite a recent historic joint US‑Japan intervention, as carry traders rebuild yen shorts, though reports that PM Takaichi’s government supports a faster BOJ hiking path (potentially Sep–Oct) offer some support to the yen.
• USDCNY and USDCNH are both flat for a third consecutive session. One-month implied volatility on USDCNH has fallen for the third time this week to 1.67%. The PBOC set Thursday's fixing at 6.7888, slightly weaker than Wednesday's 6.7882.
• In options, hedge funds are buying short‑term AUDNZD call spreads after softer NZ 2‑year inflation expectations BNY says cross‑border investors are re‑upping FX hedges on US assets, suggesting a “dollar de‑hedging peak.”

Commodities:

• WTI settled at $81.25 a barrel, down 2.4% on the session, snapping a six-session winning streak. Brent settled at $87.07, down 2.15%. Profit-taking emerged as the Hormuz deal remains elusive. Late Thursday, Iran attacked two ADNOC vessels transiting the strait, keeping the geopolitical risk premium in place. WTI traded near $81 in early Asian hours Friday.
• Comex front-month gold settled at $4,363.60 an ounce, down 1.03% — its largest single-day decline since July 31 — snapping a four-session winning streak. Spot gold fell as much as 1.5% to $4,343.91 intraday. Easing inflation data bolstered expectations the Fed will hold rates in September, reducing the inflation-hedge premium. Gold remains on track for a second consecutive weekly gain despite the pullback.
• The LME copper cash-to-three-month spread rose sharply to $245.64 per tonne — the highest since June 2025 — in a one-day move of $83.39, the largest in nearly eight weeks.

Fixed income:

• Treasuries advanced following the soft PPI print. The 2-year yield fell approximately 5 basis points, the 10-year fell to around 4.67%, and the 30-year fell ahead of the auction before edging back up post-results. The 5s30s spread widened, remaining inside daily range that marked the widest levels since May, with the long end structurally heavy and biased toward further steepening as the Fed premium drains from the front end.
• The US Treasury sold $25 billion in 30-year bonds at a yield of 5.216% — the highest since 2001 — tailing the when-issued yield of 5.212% by 0.4 basis points. The bid-to-cover ratio was 2.39x, below the prior auction's 2.44x. Indirect bidders took 66.8% and primary dealers took 11.5% of the allocation. This follows Wednesday's 10-year auction, which cleared at 4.683%, the highest yield since the 2007 global financial crisis. Both auctions reflect investors demanding greater compensation to finance the growing US deficit.
• Despite the overall rate-hike narrative, options markets saw demand for hedges against rate cuts by both the Fed and the Bank of England. US money-market fund assets rose to a record $7.93 trillion, with approximately $18.3 billion in inflows in the week through August 12, as attractive front-end yields continue to draw flows.

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