- ICYMI - cross-blockchain bridge Wormhole looks to have been hacked, circa $326 m missing
- More still to come from the RBA this week - Friday bring monetary policy statement
- The huge rise in Australian imports in the trade data another indication of a booming economy
- Oil - UBS forecast Brent at $100
- An oil ICYMI - OPEC rubber stamps its pre-agreed 400K b/d increase
- BOJ Dep Gov Wakatabe Masazumi says it is definitely too early to start tightening
- Bank of England 25bp rate hike baked in for Thursday 03 February 2022
- US President Biden and French President Macron affirmed their support for Ukraine
- Japan services PMI for January 47.6 (prior 52.1)
- Australia trade balance for December 2021, exports and imports both up m/m
- Australia Building Permits for December +8.2% m/m (expected -1%)
- CBB says the second half of 2022 in China is set up for an improvement
- New Zealand - ANZ Commodity Price index for January: +1%% m/m (prior -0.3%)
- Jump in eurozone inflation makes an ECB rate hike in 2022 increasingly likely
- US equity index futures shunted a lot lower on Globex reopen (thanks, Facebook)
- Nominee to the Fed Board says spike in inflation is threatening
- NZ PM Ardern says some vaccinated workers can travel into the country from March 13 2022
- Australian services PMI 46.6, and Composite 46.7 (January, final)
- Trade ideas thread - Thursday 03 February 2022
- Brazil's central bank has raised its benchmark rate to 10.75%, as expected
- Australia construction sector PMI plunges to 45.9 (from prior 57.0)
- Meta (i.e. Facebook, who are these guys trying to fool?) shares have been smashed
- ICYMI - Eurozone CPI blasted higher in January, smashing expectations (& ECB complacency)
China continued its lunar new year holidays, helping to sap volatility from the forex markets during the session here. Across the major FX board moves have been very small.
AUD/USD and NZD/USD lost a few points early in the session but have since retraced to be net little changed. New Zealand outlined its border reopening plan today (see bullets above). From Australia we had plenty of data, with imports in December 2021 hitting a record high, both consumption and capital goods rose.
EUR, GBP, CHF, yen, CAD … all remained in tight ranges also. The ECB and BoE policy meetings are today, previews are in the bullets above.
US equity index futures were rocked by a plunge in Facebook shares (the firm is now known as Meta) in after hours trade.
Australian imports (graph via ANZ analysis):
