Forex news for Asia trading for Tuesday 23 February 2021
- Morgan Stanley oil forecasts revised higher, $70 peak in Q3
- Gold - renewed physical demand may be acting as underpinning the price
- Jeffrey Gundlach tweets referring to famous 19870 stock market crash prediction
- Canada's parliament has declared China's treatment of Uighurs 'genocide'
- Goldman Sachs add higher WTI forecasts to their higher Brent forecasts (from yesterday)
- World's largest hedge fund manager shares his 'bubble indicator' and what it means for US stocks at present
- Oil prices (WTI and Brent) still rising during Asia trade
- China January new home prices +0.3% m/m (prior +0.1%) and +3.9% y/y (prior +3.8%)
- Australian PM Morrison confirms temporary coronavirus job support programs will expire end-March
- Moody's has downgraded Australian state Victoria to AA1, changes outlook to negative
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at 6.4516 (vs. yesterday at 6.4563)
- FX option expiries for Tuesday February 23 at the 10am NY cut
- Bank analyst cuts price for gold, says gold is losing its lustre to crypto
- CAD traders - heads up for Bank of Canada Governor Macklem speaking Tuesday
- Australia preliminary trade figures for January, exports drop 9% m/m
- Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell testimony on Tuesday - preview
- J&J coronavirus vaccine -the firm says it can deliver 100m does by the end of H1
- Australia - government plans an extra $25/week in unemployment benefits
- China state media says the recovery in economic growth paves the way for monetary policy normalization
- NZD traders note for the diary - RBNZ Gov Orr to speak March 4 on monetary policy
- Japan is considering lifting its state of emergency for areas outside Tokyo
- OPEC+ meet next week -oil market chatter is of a potential Saudi / Russia clash on output curbs
- Australia weekly consumer confidence: 109.2 (prior 109.9)
- Morgan Stanley bumps its oil price forecast higher, Q2 WTI now projected at US$62.50 (from 52.50)
- Trade ideas thread - Tuesday 23 February 2021
- Another grim milestone passed, US COVID-19 deaths climb above half a million
- New Zealand Retail sales excl. inflation for Q4 2020: -2.7% q/q (expected -0.5%)
- ICYMI - Blackrock downgraded its view on credit, government bonds
It was quite the mixed bag for FX here in Asia trade:
- AUD was strong early, popping to a fresh high (compared to its overnight range higher) above 0.7930 before dropping back to be straddling 0.7910 as I post. News of a (very small) boost to the unemployment benefit to help ease the expiration of fiscal jobs support at the end of March helped the currency rise but as I said, its all been given back.
- NZD/USD did not manage to rise much and has since dropped under 0.7320.
- Cable is still in the middle of its session range, as is EUR/USD.
- USD/CAD dropped under 1.2590 and is back straddling 1.26. Bank of Canada Governor Macklem speaks Tuesday, CAD time.
- USD/JPY and USD/CHF have not seen much activity.
Oil prices continued to rise during the session here following their solid gains during US trade.
Bitcoin had a wild run on Monday US time and has pulled back from its bounce high circa $54.9K to under 52K and is just above there as I post. Gold steadied around its recent high.
News and data flow was light indeed. The People's Bank of China strengthened the onshore yuan at its daily reference rate setting more than was expected.
