Forex news for Asia trading Wednesday 22 February 2017

  • FOMC Minutes due Wednesday in the US (along with eco data)
  • China home price data - "property curbs ... are taking effect"
  • UK engineering & manufacturing trade body EEF want a 5 year Brexit transition period
  • More from BOJ's Kuroda: Ready to ease further if needed
  • Australia media on "the central dilemma the Reserve Bank confronts "
  • NZ data - January credit card spending +0.2% m/m (prior +3.2%)
  • Fed's Mester - now for the Bloomberg interview
  • Fed's Mester - the CNBC interview
  • All China new home prices +0.2% m/m in January (prior +0.3%) - Reuters calculation
  • BOJ's Kuroda: The BOJ does not have a prediction for FX level
  • Fed's Mester (again): We're at full employment, inflation moving up
  • PBOC sets USD/CNY central rate at 6.8830 (vs. yesterday at 6.8790)
  • Japan finmin Aso: Not thinking now of issuing negative rate govt bonds
  • Australia - Construction Work Done for Q4: -0.2% q/q(expected +0.5%)
  • Australia - Wage Price Index for Q4: +0.5% q/q (vs. expected +0.5%)
  • AUD and NZD orderboards
  • Fed's Mester remarks on CNBC reported over wires
  • Australia data - Westpac (January) Leading Index: +0.03% m/m (prior +0.44%)
  • Want to hear from BOJ Governor Kuroda today? You're in luck!
  • Brexit - UK PM May seeking trigger by March 31
  • OIL - Iranian Oil Minister says crude above $60 / barrel would hurt OPEC - more
  • PIMCO: US & Australian economies out of sync - makes Aussie bonds attractive
  • More from RBA's Lowe, from the Q&A following his speech
  • Trade ideas thread - Wednesday 22 February 2017
  • A quick look at the some of the major pairs
  • RBA Lowe: Some signs debt levels are affecting household spending
  • Tom Barrack met with Trump today. Read the memo he called his most-embarrassing moment
  • US stocks keep the bull train going
  • An RBA speech kicks off the day here in Asia

ICYMI:

  • ForexLive Americas FX news wrap: Dollar dips on data miss

We got a few news and data items today of note. The day kicked off with a speech from Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, Philip Lowe, who offered up no simple, easy, popular solutions (he'll leave that to the politicians) but did highlight some of the challenges facing the Australian economy and the RBA itself. The posts are in the list above, but here they are in one place:

  • RBA Lowe: Some signs debt levels are affecting household spending
  • More from RBA's Lowe, from the Q&A following his speech
  • Australia media on "the central dilemma the Reserve Bank confronts "

Dr. Loretta Mester (President & CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland) was also on the news, with interviews on CNBC and Bloomberg:

  • Fed's Mester remarks on CNBC reported over wires
  • Fed's Mester (again): We're at full employment, inflation moving up
  • Here's the link to that CNBC piece
  • Fed's Mester - now for the Bloomberg interview

Australian data flow today also:

  • Australia data - Westpac (January) Leading Index: +0.03% m/m (prior +0.44%)
  • Australia - Construction Work Done for Q4: -0.2% q/q(expected +0.5%)
  • ... fell for the second quarter in a row
  • ... A big miss on expectations
  • ... On the more positive side, an increase in privately-funded activity is encouraging, suggesting that perhaps the country is past the peak drag from the mining sector 'capex cliff'
  • ... Analysts suggest that the poor result from this today will not alter the forecast for a bounce back in Q4 GDP to a positive after the fall in Q3)
  • Australia - Wage Price Index for Q4: +0.5% q/q (vs. expected +0.5%)
  • ... Wage growth is at a record low (since this data series commenced) and also around its weakest since the 1960s

And so to currencies ...

It was a session characterised by a little USD weakness. Ranges were not large at all, with cable a winner; GBP/USD up 40+ points from early session lows and a pop through 1.2500 at one stage.

AUD/USD and NZD/USD both traded net higher

USD/JPY ticked a little higher in very early Tokyo time but topped circa 113.70 and slid as the Tokyo morning progressed, toward 113.30 before finding a bit of support and a minor bounce.

EUR and CHF are both up very small against the USD ... today's lesser performers.

Gold is little changed, oil a few cents to the better

Regional equities:

  • Nikkei -0.04%
  • Shanghai -0.15%
  • HK +0.82%
  • ASX +0.14%

Still to come:

  • FOMC Minutes due Wednesday in the US (along with eco data)

More:

  • Hong Kong Q4 GDP blew through estimates, in at +1.2% q/q (vs. +0.7% expected), and up 1.9% y/y (expected +1.5%)