We had Federal Reserve officials Schmid (Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President) and Daly (Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President) speaking in early Asia time on Tuesday. They followed Logan (Dallas) and Kashkari (Minneapolis) who spoke on Monday, US time.

All four expressed support for further Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts, but while Schmid, Logan and Kashkari tilted towards going slow on rate cuts (‘modest’, ‘gradual’, ‘avoid outsize moves’), citing the strong US economy and an uncertain outlook, Daly was more gung-ho, saying her perception is that current Fed monetary policy is "very tight" and that a strong economy should not prevent pacy rate cuts as long as inflation continues to fall.

Apart from Fed speakers there was little news nor data of impact. We did have some (very mild) verbal intervention from Japanese authorities. USD/JPY is barely off its session highs. Major FX was otherwise subdued.

China’s trade weighted yuan basket rose to its highest since July 11.

Gold jumped on the session but has not approached its recent (record) high.

gold wrap 22 October 2024 2