Forex news for Asia trading Thursday 13 August 2020
- AUD traders - heads up for RBA Governor Lowe speaking on Friday 14 August 2020
- AUD is very little changed after the employment report
- RBNZ's Yuong Ha says the Bank would like a weaker NZD
- Australian July Unemployment Rate: 7.5% (vs. expected 7.8%)
- RBA again offers to buy up to AUD2bn in government securities (as part of its YCC operation)
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at 6.9429 (vs. yesterday at 6.9597)
- New Zealand report 14 new coronavirus cases today
- RBNZ Dep Gov Bascand says Bank will consider more stimulus if there are periods of virus resurgence, lockdowns
- There are indications the PBOC is buying Chinese bonds. Questions raised over if its for QE
- FX option expiries for Thursday August 13 at the 10am NY cut
- China says it has found coronavirus on imported frozen poultry
- UK business leaders urge Sunak to extend support for workers
- Japan PPI for July -0.9% y/y (expected -1.1%)
- UK press (Times) report: US sends stealth bombers to counter Chinese threat
- AUD/USD support levels noted below 0.7100
- UK data - RICS monthly house price balance for July: +12% (expected -5%)
- Australian state Victoria records 278 new COVID-19 cases
- EU's Hogan says the EU and US should intensify efforts to negotiate solution to ongoing trade issues
- New Zealand Food Price (inflation) for July: +1.2% m/m (prior +0.5%)
- Fed's Kaplan says he does not think a hard lockdown is the right answer for the US economy
- US says modifying list of EU products facing tariffs - will add more on France, Germany
- Fed's Daly urges more economic assistance from Congress - "build a bridge"
- US Treas Sec Mnuchin comments indicate stimulus negotiations are going nowhere
- Here's what it'll take for gold (and silver) to climb to new highs ($2100, $30)
- Trade ideas thread - Thursday 13 August 2020
- ICYMI - The RBNZ clearly stated they want a lower NZ dollar
- S&P closes just below all time high closing level.
Sellers of US dollars prevailed during the session here as currencies gained pretty much across the board. Even gold managed to head back up towards its US-time high.
News flow was light, we did get comments from US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin that strongly indicated the two sides in Washington were far apart on stimulus measures and we should not be expecting any compromise deal any time soon. Fed speakers continued to urge economic support from Congress, in a persistent cry from central bankers. While on politics, presidential candidate Biden and running mate Harris appeared together to address supporters while Trump gave one of his regular presentations to the gathered media in the White House. There was nothing of substance from either side to report.
Regular themes such as coronavirus vaccine developments and US-China tensions were more or less absent from news flow today.
Further on the central bank front, the PBOC was reported as buying domestic bonds although analysts cited doubt its a QE effort. The RBA bought Australian government notes today (April '23 and '24) as part of their yield curve control measures (to keep the 3 year yield circa 0.25%). Various RBNZ talking heads reiterated key messages from yesterday's policy statement: a desire for lower yields, and NZD, chief among these.
New Zealand reported an acceleration in new virus cases with 14 new infections today.
On the data release agenda the focus was the Australian labour market report, for July. It showed a headline beat for employment and the jobless rate, welcome news indeed, but caution persists ahead especially as the next report will encompass the harsh shutdown impact in the country's second largest city and state.
Gold faded in the US afternoon but has bounced here:
