Greetings all and welcome to Wednesday!

There is a good bit of data and bits and bobs on the agenda today, here goes:

From New Zealand ... hang on a second ... greg has got this covered. I gotta get up earlier if I want to beat Greg to it: NZDUSD traders patiently await the employment report and RBNZs Wheeler

Just one thing, he says the employment data is due at 4.45 ET. I thought ET was a movie?

From Australia, due at 2230GMT - Services PMI for January.

  • This is the AiG (Australian Industry Group) Performace of Services Index
  • prior was 46.3

Back to New Zealand at 0000GMT - RBNZ Governor Wheeler speaks (see Greg's preview, link above)

0030GMT - Australia - Building approvals for December.

  • These have turned lower, indicating a slowing in work in the pipeline. The big fall m/m in November was mainly due to multi-unit developments, which can be a 'lumpy' volatile sector.
  • For the m/m, expected is 4.5%, prior was -12.7%
  • For the y/y, expected is -7.2%, prior was -8.4%
  • This is the major focus in Australia today (apart from developments in China, of course) and we could see an AUD impact if the data comes in away from estimates. AUD/USD has settled into a tight range overnight. I'll be back with levels. A quick glance at the chart looks heavy.

0145GMT China - Caixin services and composite PMIs for January. Prior 50.2 and 49.4 respectively. These are not as much a focal point as the manufacturing PMI.

0200GMT - Japan - Nikkei services and composite PMIs for January. Priors 51.5 and 52.2

0230GMT - Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Kuroda speaks. Will he be firing blanks again?: Poor communication from the BOJ is losing them effectiveness and credibility