- GM, Toyota, Ford cut production following Canadian protests
- Economists at Goldman Sachs are now forecasting 7 Federal Reserve rate hikes this year
- Morgan Stanley bearish on NZD, says Feb 23 RBNZ rate hike priced in
- RBNZ data - One year ahead CPI Inflation expectations rose to a 31-year high of 4.40%
- Honda to suspend a production line at Canada plant due to protestors
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at 6.3681 (vs. estimate at 6.3665)
- RBA Gov Lowe says if economy tracks our forecasts rate hike plausible in 2022
- Fed's Barkin says he would have to be convinced of a 'screaming need' for a 50bp hike
- RBA Gov Lowe says there is a big divergence between the Bank and market expectations
- More from Fed's Barkin says awaiting the data by the time we get to March
- Fed's Barkin says the US economy will pass pre-covid in Q1 2022
- The backup of container ships waiting to unload in Southern California is shrinking
- RBA Gov Lowe says its OK to run the risk of above 3% inflation
- ECB President Lagarde says hiking rates would not solve current problems
- US President Biden has advised US citizens to leave the country.
- RBA Governor Lowe opening statement - headlines
- RBA Governor Lowe testimony - full text
- US State Department repeats its advice for US citizens to leave Ukraine now
- Trade ideas thread - Friday 11 February 2022
- Its a long time until March 16 (the FOMC rate hike meeting)
- New Zealand January Retail card spending +3.0% m/m (vs. expected 0.6%)
The Thursday session in the US timezone was dominated by the CPI data and the wild ride for markets in its wake.
Follow on moves during APAC trade were very limited but in general we have had just a few more points added to USD strength. EUR, AUD, NZD are all down very small.
The local focus was on Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Lowe testifying to a parliamentary committee. This went on for hours and there are a good few posts in the bullets above with updates. The short story though is probably best summarised by Lowe reiterating the policy board has time on its side before deciding on any rate moves. Lowe did concede that it is plausible that if the economy tracks to the Bank's forecasts a rate hike will be on the agenda later this year. He added that he would like to see another ‘couple’ of CPIs before deciding on moves. Official CPI data in Australia is only once a quarter. The next release is due on April 27, the one after on July 27 (i.e. a ‘couple’ will take 5 months … Lowe may not get the luxury of a couple).
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand released its inflation expectations data for the quarter. Most eyes were on the 5 and 10 year expectations. These both came in under the mid-point of the Bank’s 2 to 3% target range.
James Bullard got the ball rolling on Fed speculation of a 50bp hike in March - see the Nth Americas wrap, above, for links to his comments)