Forex news for Asia trading on Tuesday 22 June 2021
- ICYMI- BoA looking for oil to spike to $100
- Update on MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin purchases: $489m spent, average price circa $37.6K
- Sotheby's to auction rare diamond, payment in cryptocurrency accepted
- Australia's largest city extends mask mandate to deal with coronavirus cases ticking up
- Oil keeps on chugging higher, Brent hits $75 for the first time in 2 years
- Technical analyst points out a hopeful sign for the Bitcoin bulls - death cross followed by a 1000% gain
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY central rate at 6.4613 (vs. yesterday at 6.4546)
- Morgan Stanley, Citi, BoA on the Fed, tapering, the economy - a few snippets
- China and iron ore - the latest regulator concerns
- US infrastructure talks. Biden met with Manchin and Sinema on Monday (separately)
- Goldman Sachs do not see a case for sustained USD appreciation
- Australia weekly ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence: 112.4 (vs. prior 111.0)
- Recap of Fed Chair Powell's prepared testimony to Congress
- Recap of NY Fed Williams' remarks on the FOMC - "conditions have not progressed enough"
- Bitcoin price falls under US$32,000. Accelerating crackdown in China cited.
- ICYMI - Goldman Sachs expect the ECB to begin taper this year
- NY Fed's Williams says the Fed is talking about talking tapering
- Trade ideas thread - Tuesday 22 June 2021
- US Financial Regulators report that the US financial system is in a strong state
- Fed's Powell: Inflation has picked up noticeably, job gains should pick up in months ahead
Japanese equities had a bit of a rebound from Monday's sharp selloff helped along by the Bank of Japan buying ETFs on Monday afternoon and the rally on US equities during US time Monday. At the close of Tuesday morning trade (afternoon trade is yet to come) the TOPIX and Nikkei225 were both up just shy of 3%.
Bitcoin was a mover on the session here also, initially dropping to approach (but not reach $31K) with much talk of further Chinese pressure on miners and transactions (more bans, Sichuan the most recent was noted Monday Asia time) and technical analysts pointing out a 'death cross' on moving average indicators. BTC/USD has subsequently rebounded a touch, as high as just over $33K and its around $31.7K as I update.
The Australian dollar had a small move lower on comments late in the US afternoon from NY Fed President Williams who, while saying it was still too early to cut back on QE bond ourchases did confirm the FOMC is discussing have a discussion on tapering. This is hardly new news but it was enough to chop a few point out of the AUD/USD. Lows circa 0.7520 were soon recovered though, AUD/USD back to US-time high over 0.7240 before. Since then its been sad for the AUD though, Chinese commodity futures have slumped further, taking AUD/USD back under 0.7520. NZD/USD has been along for the weaker ride also, dropping towards 0.6975.
EUR/USD is a few points weaker, as is cable. USD/JPY lost a few more points, getting above 110.40 at one stage.
Brent crude traded at US$75/bbl, its highest for more than 2 years and gold steading near its week high circa $1787 and thereabouts.
Coming up on Tuesday US time is Federal Reserve Chair Powell's testimony to COngress. The text of his speech has been released:
- Fed's Powell: Inflation has picked up noticeably, job gains should pick up in months ahead
- Recap of Fed Chair Powell's prepared testimony to Congress
The full text is here at the Fed's site (insomniacs, you're welcome):