- Zhengzhou (city in China's Henan province) has tightened restrictions
- US CDC considers recommending 'better masks' for omicron coronavirus variant - N95 or KN95
- China orders suspension of some U.S. flights
- BlackRock see the Fed with a muted response to inflation - supportive for equities
- China plans to build 6.5m low-cost new homes by the end of 2025
- Further coronavirus restrictions in China's Shenzen
- Partial lockdown imposed on a district of Tianjin, China
- Biden reducing land available for oil exploring in Alaska reserve from Trump's 82% to 58%
- US Federal Reserve speakers coming up on Tuesday 11 January 2022 - Powell, George
- Magnitude 6.3 earthquake - Cyprus
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY central rate at 6.3684 (vs. estimate at 6.3698)
- China reports 110 Local COVID-19 confirmed cases, from 97 a day earlier
- Volkswagen optimistic that inflation will ease. Pessimistic on continued chip shortage.
- Australian Balance of Trade data (November) AUD9.42bn (vs. AUD10.6bn surplus expected)
- Australia November Retail Sales +7.3% m/m (expected 3.9%)
- South Korea trade data (first 10 days of January) shows further rise for exports & imports
- UK data - BRC Like-for-like retail sales +0.6% y/y in December (prior +1.8%)
- More on JP Morgan's Kolanovic "time to buy the dip" comments Monday
- ICYMI - Fed's Barkin says a March 2022 Federal Reserve rate rise is conceivable
- Blackrock says downside risk to China's economic growth have risen
- North Korea fires unidentified projectile toward East Sea - likely a ballistic missile
- Australia weekly consumer confidence 106.0 (prior 108.4)
- Here is how to front-run JP Morgan's Kolanovic saying it's time to buy the dip
- Pfizer's new 'hybrid' vaccine targets Omicron alongside original virus
- Fed Chair Powell says the US economy is expanding at its fastest pace in many years
- Trade ideas thread - Tuesday 11 January 2022
- Fed's Clarida is resigning two weeks early
APAC major FX traded in limited ranges awaiting testimony from Federal Reserve System Chair Powell on Tuesday (11 January 2022 US time (see bullets above)).
EUR, GBP, AUD, NZD, CAD are all slghtly firmer against the USD while USD/JPY has managed a 20 or so point gain. Yen crosses are thus higher on the session.
Coronavirus response news out of China was in the news, with the small outbreaks in various regions leading to various levels of lockdowns or not-quite-full-lockdowns. The ‘zero-COVID’ China response is still well and truly in place.
Data today was from Australia with a huge rise m/m in retail sales – the data was for November 2021 as Sydney and Melbourne emerged from lockdowns. More recent (private-sector, unofficial) data related to retail activity since the Omicron outbreak is not so encouraging but we will not get the official data on this for a good few months in the future.
Late US afternoon news that Federal Reserve Vice Chair Clarida is resigning two weeks early, January 14 instead of January 31. Questions are current surrounding Clarida's trading activity in markets while Vice-Chair.
As I post news is crossing that EU parliament president David Sassoli has died.
AUD/JPY higher on the session:
