- Reports that Ukrainian forces have fired mortars & grenades on LPR locations
- BA says central banks are a little behind the curve, except the Fed. They're a lot behind
- Federal Reserve speakers coming up on Thursday 17 February 2022
- Carolyn Wilkins says Canada needs to make cryptocurrency as safe as our financial system
- Australia - ANZ expect the unemployment rate to fall into the low 3% range
- Singapore data - GDP for Q4 2021 and the whole of 2021 came in better than flash estimates
- ICYMI - France says an Iran nuclear deal is only days away
- Biden administration prepared to take action to address shortfall in China phase 1 deal
- Heads up for Japanese Prime Minister Kishida to speak at 1000 GMT
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at 6.3321 (vs. estimate at 6.3371)
- Yellen says US inflation rates are "not acceptable" but the Fed Reserve will act
- AUD/USD barely changed after the Australian January jobs report
- Australia Jan. Employment Change: +12.9K (expected 0K) & Jobless rate 4.2% (expected 4.2%)
- USD catches a small bid on US claiming Russia's troop withdrawal claim is false
- Japan December core machinery orders +5.1% y/y and +3.6% m/m
- Japan January exports +9.6% y/y
- JP Morgan join in expecting 7 Federal Reserve rate hike this year
- Biden administration says more Russian troops arrived along Ukraine border Wednesday
- San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly says financial conditions have tightened
- Biden's pleas for more oil, but Saudi sticking with Russia
- UK Boris Johnson spoke with Australian PM Morrison
- Morgan Stanley bullish & long in spot EUR/USD, EUR/JPY, and EUR/GBP
- A snippet on why your FX chart has gone haywire
- Australian employment report today: upside risk to jobs, downside risk to the jobless rate
- Trade ideas thread - Thursday 17 February 2022
- Forexlive Americas FX news wrap: Retail sizzles, FOMC minutes cool 50 bps talk
A US official speaking with reporters on Wednesday evening (US time) said the Russian reports of troop withdrawals were false. The official said 7,000 more Russian troops were sent to the border with Ukraine. The fog of war continues.
The USD and yen gained a few points on the news, but the moves were very small indeed.
As I prepare the wrap there are reports from Russian state media that Ukrainian forces have fired mortars & grenades on LPR locations (LPR is Luhansk People's Republic, located in Luhansk Oblast in the Donbas region, a territory internationally recognized to be a part of Ukraine but run by Russian backed separatists). So far FX response to this is minimal. What little there is is once again a slight bid for the USD and yen. UPDATE …. here we go … USD catching a more noticeable bid now. EUR/USD chart below as an example of the risk off flow. AUD, NZD, GBP CAD all lower against the dollar.
The data focus was the Australian January 2022 jobs report (see bullets above) which beat expectations for jobs added (the details detract a little but check out the posts for these). This was not too bad a report for the month when the Omicron outbreak was at its worst in Australia. AUD/USD has ticked up just a little after the data. NZD/USD is higher also.
FX as a whole though has traded small ranges only.
Oil lost ground late US time on reports the deal with Iran is getting closer (see bullets above).