This post was originally published on this site.The six-month high (NOTE: claims that are unverified) in Hormuz shipments is (if true!) a supply-side positive that should temper the more extreme upside scenarios for crude, but the risk premium is unlikely to fade while Iran maintains the closure and talks on agreed shipping routes stay stalled. The clearer price signal may sit in refined products, where a reported strike on jet fuel facilities at a major Saudi airport would add to a squeeze that has been building since the summer. Riyadh’s alerts also put Saudi infrastructure back in traders’ sights, and...

This post was originally published on this site.USD/JPY faces two-way risk in thin Asian trading duirng the first half of this week. An intervention-style drop would be amplified by the lack of Tokyo interest, while a quiet session leaves the pair free to drift on the wide rate gap between Japan and the US. Yen crosses would be likely to move in step. Yen strength would typically weigh on exporters, while renewed weakness would support them. — With Tokyo shut until Thursday, the yen enters some of its thinnest trading of the year just as the market tests whether Japan...