Major forex rates traded in fairly subdued ranges ahead of the US data for October CPI due later Thursday. GBP was an exception, it traded steadily higher, gaining 50+ points with little in the way of news crossing. USD/JPY dribbled 40 or so points down from its early high.

News and data flow was very light.

In the crypto space, leader Bitcoin showed a bit of a (dead cat?) bounce from lows under USD16K. News crossed that Sequoia Capital had written down its FTX investment to zero dollars. The firm said its loss was around USD150mn but this is more than offset by the fund holding the stake in the exchange sitting on circa USD7.5bn in realized and unrealized gains.

We had divergent central bankers speaking today. Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari was hawkish saying its far too early for any pivot. On the other hand Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda was his usual dovish self, saying loose policy would remain in place, and could be eased further if needed given he expected Japanese inflation to fall back under 2% in the country's next fiscal year. Japan’s fiscal year begins on April 1. I hope he is not made to look foolish.

gbp chart wrap 10 November 2022