Forex news for Asia trading for Wednesday 14 April 2021
- China's Li: China and the US should step up communication, manage differences, respect each other
- More from the RBNZ - economic outlook still highly uncertain
- NZD little changed (down a few tics) after the RBNZ leaves monetary policy unchanged
- The RBNZ leave monetary policy unchanged, as expected
- Australian Treasurer Frydenberg noting strong consumer confidence. AUD barely responding.
- Recap of the Japan machinery orders data slump: "stokes worry on capital spending"
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY central rate at 6.5362 (vs. yesterday at 6.5454)
- US Treasury Secretary Yellen is speaking on Wednesday, US time (2.15pm NY time)
- Australia - Westpac Consumer Confidence Index for April: +6.2% m/m (prior +2.6%)
- Note for the diary - US President Biden will address a joint sitting of Congress on April 28
- Monetary Authority of Singapore leaves monetary policy unchanged
- Singapore data: Q1 GDP 2.0% q/q (vs. 1.7% expected)
- Japan Core Machinery Orders for February -8.5% m/m (vs. expected 2.5%)
- More from BlackRock, expect the Fed should be able to begin to taper asset purchases sooner than many expect
- Credit Suisse on Swiss National Bank FX intervention - more risk in EUR/CHF
- BlackRock says overweight equities, see a better earnings outlook, moderate valuations
- All 50 US states are pausing the use of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine - J&J to pause usage in Europe
- Further responses to the US March CPI report - JPM revise their inflation forecast higher
- US CPI, keep calm? RBC warns the risk is of 5%+ inflation ahead.
- Trade ideas thread - Wednesday 14 April 2021
- Coinbase direct listing - reference price set at $250
- Australia to hold an emergency meeting to address the vaccine roll-out debacle
- Private oil survey data shows a headline draw in crude oil inventory
- Moderna coronavirus vaccine 90% effective after 6 months
- Pfizer says will deliver a total of 220m doses to the US by the end of May, & full 300m 2 weeks earlier than planned
There were minor moves only for major FX during the session here today with a touch more US dollar softness the overriding theme. USD/JPY slipped to under 108.80 while GBP, AUD, NZD EUR all recovered from very minor weakness early to record fresh highs compared with Tuesday US trade (not by much though).
Coronavirus news centred on a pause in Johnson and Johnson vaccinations in the US and for Europe. This does need to be seen in the context of the J&J vaccine running very far behind Pfizer and Moderna in US vaccinations. Pausing (or stopping) usage of J&J is not good news, but its not going to have a huge impact either. Other news flow was light.
On the data front we had a very poor result indeed from Japanese machinery orders, which does not auger well for capex in the months ahead. From Australia, yesterday's solid business survey was backed up today by a very strong consumer confidence report (the WPAC survey of consumer sentiment hits its highest in 11 years, very much like after the bounce back from the GFC). Singapore Q1 GDP surprised to the topside.
Speaking of Singapore, and moving on to central bank activity in the region today, the Monetary Authority of Singapore held monetary policy unchanged at its meeting. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand was the same, holding policy steady. Both announcements were in line with what analysts expected. The RBNZ provided no surprise. The Bank is holding to a "wait and see" approach, and said once again that dialling back of monetary stimulus remains a long way off, given uncertainties about the economic outlook.The People's Bank of China set the USD/CNY mid-rate at its strongest (for onshore yuan) in around 3 weeks.
Bitcoin held above $63K.
Regional equities:
- Japan's Nikkei -0.3%, Topix -0.3%
- China's Shanghai Composite +0.25%
- Hong Kong's Hang Seng +0.95%
- Australia's S&P/ASX 200 +0.39%
