Forex news for Asia trading Thursday 1 October 2020
- Fujifilm has agreed a manufacturing deal for its coronavirus vaccine candidate
- US President candidate Biden says seeking to cut Trump's margin amongst white working class
- Australian job vacancies in the three months to August +59.4% (prior -43.2%)
- Reminder - there is no CNY mid-rate setting today due to China being on holiday (HK is out today also)
- FX option expiries for Thursday October 01 at the 10am NY cut
- RBNZ says committed to maintaining the soundness of NZ financial system
- US - United Airlines will furlough 13,000 workers
- RBA meeting on Tuesday October 6 - most analysts see no change to policy
- Moderna says its coronavirus vaccine will not be ready until 2021
- Japan - Jibun Bank/Markit Manufacturing PMI (final) for September 47.7
- A BOJ official cites pickup in domestic and offshore sales for business sentiment improvement
- South Korea September exports per working day -4% y/y
- Bank of Japan Tankan report for Q3, large manufacturers sentiment -27 (-24 expected)
- Japan Exchange reports a system issue - trading stopped
- American Air will begin to layoff 19,000 staff from Thursday
- Chinese postgraduate students to be banned from studying sensitive subjects at UK universities
- Mnuchin says Democrats's $2.2tln coronavirus economic relief bill is not acceptable
- Australia - CBA/Markit Manufacturing PMI for September (final) 55.4
- Japan PM Suga is unlikely to call a snap election this year
- Australia - AiG Manufacturing PMI for September 46.7 (prior 49.3)
- Canada PM Trudeau will make an infrastructure announcement on Thursday
- Japan press reports government considering further coronavirus economic stimulus
- The US Senate has finalised voting on stop gap government funding bill
- More on the FDA broadening its investigation into AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine candidate
- The US FDA has broadened its investigation into AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine candidate
- More on the Fed extending curbs on big bank buy backs, dividends through end of year
- US coronavirus - House pushes vote on economic relief bill to Thursday
- Front page of FT - Johnson "will not hesitate" to impose new COVID-19 restrictions
- Fed's Bullard says can't wait until 2021 to decide on more stimulus
- Trade ideas thread - Thursday 01 October 2020
- UK trade minister Truss says will work with whoever is in the White House on a Brexit trade deal
- The Fed has extended its limits on bank dividends and buybacks through Q4
China and Hong Kong markets were closed for a holiday today. HK will be out again tomorrow (Friday) while China will be out for 'Golden Week' through to October 7. The absence of these markets thinned out trade in Asia today and, to subtract a little more, the Tokyo Stock Exchange (and some others in Japan) suffered a systems/tech outage that halted trade.
The impactful headlines of the session were those related to apparent progress being made in US coronavirus economic relief talks. US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and House Speaker Pelosi are said to be in continuing talks on Wednesday evening, which will then carry on Thursday. The House delayed voting on the prospect that there might be some agreement between the two sides. Indeed, Mnuchin later indicated he had boosted his offer toward 1.6tln (and other associated measures) - see this post here for more on Mnuchin. US airlines announced job furloughs, increasing pressure on the politicians to work towards an agreement.
Japanese media reported the government there is considering further economic stimulus.
US stock index futures on Globex traded higher and the dollar (and yen) lower on the more upbeat sentiment the news items triggered. Having said this (most) ranges for currencies have been small only.
EUR/USD has traded back briefly above 1.1740 while AUD and NZD are also both higher against the dollar. Gains too for cable while USD/CAD dipped a little further. Gold has eked out a small gain. USD/JPY is relatively stable, up a few points only, the more favourable risk environment not encouraging flows to yen today.
The standout currency was offshore yuan, CNH adding notably to its gains again the USD.
US presidential politics was relatively calm during the session here with comments from both candidates but nothing like the strident exchanges of the debate on Tuesday evening US time.
As I update the Japan Exchange is indicating trading will halt for the rest of the day on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. There is speculation the outage is the result of hacking but the exchange has said this is not the case.
