This, again, is more about economic data than any particularly persistent directional flow from US investors. It’s
just everyone reacting to data that comes out in US time.
Speaking of time zone performance, everyone
keeps waiting for Japan to sell USDJPY and cross/JPY
because the JPY is cheap, Japanese yields have risen,
and if GPIF and friends were ever going to rotate
into JGBs, the time would be now. But you can see
in the chart at right (see the black line) that Japan
has been net nothing in USDJPY for five months.
This is in the context of a long history of USDJPY
selling in Tokyo due to directional current account
flow. USDJPY has historically gone down in Asia time,
with the exception of two main regimes (both
marked on the chart on the next page). 1) During
Abenomics, GPIF and pension funds (and everyone
else) bought USDJPY and cross/JPY in Asia and 2)
During the Russian energy crisis, oil importer
demand for USDJPY in Tokyo time outmuscled the
LHS flow. Here’s the time zone chart zoomed way, way out: