China boosted liquidity to the five largest banks in China to the tune of 500 billion yuan.
The feeling in markets was that the People’s Bank of China was willing to squeeze the financial system to wring out some of the excesses. This is a sign that officials aren’t going to let growth stumble.
The response in the commodity currencies has been dramatic with the Australian dollar jumping a half-cent to 0.9083.
The market is still putting this story together but the US dollar is really taking a beating.
Update: Goldman Sachs is out with a note saying the PBOC move is equivalent to a 50 basis point cut in the required reserve ratio.