- More on the G7 considering a near-total ban on exports to Russia
- Goldman Sachs says RBA review has “hawkish implications” for monetary policy
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at 6.8752 (vs. estimate at 6.8758)
- Nomura has raised its GDP forecast for China this year to 5.9% (from 5.3.%)
- Japan Jibun preliminary PMi (April) Manufacturing 49.5 (prior 49.2) Services 54.9 (55.0)
- NZ CPI downside surprise increases the likelihood that the RBNZ could pause on 24th May
- More detail from on Schnabel's speech earlier on persistent core inflation
- Fed's Harker: some additional tightening needed, will need to hold rates high for while
- USD/JPY little changed after Japanese inflation data - headline & core CPI still elevated
- Japan March CPI data: CPI excluding Fresh Food 3.1% y/y (vs. expected 3.1%)
- UK data - April consumer confidence -30 (vs. expected -35)
- Australia preliminary PMI (April): Manufacturing 48.1 (prior 49.1) Services 52.6 (48.6)
- US Federal Reserve emergency lending ticked up a little last week
- Mkt. sees some chance of RBNZ easing cycle beginning late 2023, but not really until 2024
- BoE's Tenreyro says the Bank may have tightened too much
- Fed's Bostic says inflation is too high, the Federal Reserve must lower it to 2%
- The South Korean March PPI has risen at its slowest rate y/y since February of 2021
- Fed's Bowman says clearly need to continue to work to bring inflation down
- Trade ideas thread - Friday, 21 April 2023
- Russia reduced its holdings of gold by more than 3 tonnes in March
- ECB Schnabel: while headline & energy inflation is slowing, other components still rising
- Fed's Mester says will assess extent of credit tightening at the May FOMC meeting
- Forexlive Americas FX news wrap: Soft Philly Fed highlights economic risks
- Stocks close lower on the day with the NASDAQ leading the way lower
The focus of the session was on the March CPI report from Japan. Headline and core inflation came in above 3% again. More in the bullets above. The response from USD/JPY was muted. The yen did strengthen a little, dragging USD/JPY down to lows circa 133.80 and yen crosses generally lower also. The Bank of Japan meet next week and speculation is about the place that new governor Ueda will strike quickly with a move to reduce policy stimulation via abandoning YCC. Speculation is also about the place that he will not! You’ll recall that deputy governor Uchida has said the Bank will not be telegraphing monetary policy moves ahead of meetings, leaving two-way speculation in the market.
Elsewhere in major forex rates moves have been small only, with a little weakness against the USD for AUD, NZD and Cad while EUR and GBP are very little change indeed.
Asian equity markets:
Japan’s Nikkei 225 -0.07%
China’s Shanghai Composite -0.21%
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng -0.45%
South Korea’s KOSPI -0.7%
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 -0.37%
USD/JPY and AUD/USD lower = lower AUD/JPY:
