With no major developments taking place this weekend, as well as the fact that trade volume will likely remain light for another week or two before the holiday season ends, leads to believe that hopeful speculation of an intervention in the Spanish bond market will continue to drive the risk on sentiment. Still, even though bond yields fell considerably last week, the pair only managed to post modest gains and it is the uncertainty over the size and the actual process of bond buying that has prevented the pair from gaining further.
GBP/USD
Apart from digesting the latest UK macro data, the pair will remain subject to spurious speculation of an intervention in the Spanish bond market. The USD remains “will they or won't they” trade given the uncertainty surrounding over any further policy easing by the Fed. This week’s release of the minutes is unlikely to provide markets with enough signs to make a definitive conclusion.
USD/JPY
After breaking above a number of key technical resistance levels last week, the pair is set to continue to creep higher on the back of the never ending speculation of policy easing by the ECB and the Fed. Also, less than impressive data from China has also prompted speculation that policy makers there may loosen their stance.