Forex news for Asia trading Thursday 4 February 2016

Fed's Brainard in the WSJ - "Watchful waiting"

  • BOJ's Kuroda: Low risk of negative rates making BOJ JGB buying difficult
  • Its February and time for China's first mutual fund liquidation of the year
  • Poll of analysts, AUD and NZD still bearish
  • China; Forget 'core' inflation - lets have a 'core' President!
  • MORE! ... Goldman Sachs see next Fed rate hike in June (from March)
  • Goldman Sachs on the potential impact on the GBP of Brexit
  • USD/CNH near its lows - stops eyed
  • PBOC sets USD/CNY mid-point today at 6.5419
  • PBOC to inject 150bn yuan through open market operations today
  • PBOC's Lu: Room for monetary policy is relatively small
  • PM Trudeau: Canada committed to fast tracking Alberta infrastructure investments
  • Morgan Stanley oil price forecasts - low oil to persist for longer than assumed
  • Australia data - NAB Q4 Business confidence: 4 (prior 0)
  • US - The IRS says tax processing systems affected by hardware failure
  • RBNZ's McDermott: Would be happy with lower NZD
  • Here it is ... The ForexLive Nonfarm Payroll Competition!
  • RBNZ's McDermott: Full text of his speech
  • Canada finance dept. director King - Canada seen as a safe haven
  • Goldman Sachs on the wires - see next Fed rate hike in June (from March)
  • We got a senate hearing happening in Canada right now ... on the falling CAD
  • Trade ideas thread for Thursday 4 February 2016

Well, that was disappointing. After huge FX moves overnight the Asian day was relatively sedate.

Cable and USD/CHF have tracked pretty much sideways. As I post cable has dipped to session lows in a small range

And there's not much to add on the EUR/USD, its little changed after a 30 or so point range.

USD/JPY recovered some lost ground, popping above 118 a couple of times and around there as I update.

AUD/USD stumbled a little, dipping towards 0.7150 but bounced back to overnight highs and its close to these as I post. NZD/USD dropped 50 points from its overnight highs but has managed a 30 or so point bounce from its session lows. The iron ore price firmed in China today (Dalian Iron ore limit up)

There was very little in the way of news today.

We did get late NY time comments from Fed governor Brainard with her view that the Fed was in a watching mode for now; 'watchful waiting' was her expression, which sounds like something Chuck Norris does when people think he is asleep.

Australian Q4 business confidence was confirmed as having improved, and comments from the PBOC yet again told us there isn't a rate/RRR cut on the horizon. Yes, again.

The USD/CNY central rate fixing from the People's Bank of China followed the USD lower, with the largest loss for USD/CNY since December 4.

Regional equities:

  • Nikkei -0.35%
  • Shanghai +1.0+6%
  • HK +1.49%
  • ASX +2.24%

Still to come:

  • Boston Fed's Rosengren to speak at 0715GMT
  • ECB President Draghi speaking at 0800GMT
  • European Central Bank Economic Bulletin published at 0900GMT
  • ECB's Knot speaking at 0930GMT
  • Bank of England at 1200GMT, presser at 1230GMT

And Mike will have even more!

And don't forget the free NFP seminar on Friday - you'll need to register: