- US DOJ charges 3 people in a $1.9bn cryptocurrency scam
- Australia's Q4 inflation data preview: What to expect & its impact on RBA monetary policy
- BlackRock Investment Institute upgraded its US stocks outlook to overweight, from neutral
- Morgan Stanley expects only slow rate cuts from the Fed - want to be sure inflation lower
- Swiss National Bank Chairman Thomas Jordan will speak on Tuesday to journalists
- ECB speakers Tuesday include Lane and Nagel
- Japan will take steps to secure energy supply following news of US LNG export growth pause
- Wages in China are falling, fast. Q4 average salaries in 38 major cities fell 1.3% y/y.
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY mid-point today at 7.1055 (vs. estimate at 7.1763)
- Media report Biden likely to authorise US military action in the Middle East
- Australian December retail sales -2.7% m/m (expected -0.9%)
- Wall Street Journal hints at why "A little dual easing soon" from the Fed could happen
- UK data shows prices in shops are rising at the slowest pace since May 2022
- ICYMI: ECB's Villery says the Bank could cut rates at any time this year, all options open
- Oil: OPEC’s Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) meets this week, no cut expected
- Japan data - December unemployment rate dropped to 2.4% (expected 2.5%)
- Biden expected to authorize US military strikes in mid-East Monday evening (US time)
- Weekly survey of Australian Consumer Confidence 82.5 (prior 83.4)
- JP Morgan analyst Kolanovic says equity valuations are expensive, bad data risk ahead
- Forexlive Americas FX news wrap 29 Jan:US Treasury lower borrowing needs kickstart markets
- New Zealand's Reserve Bank emphasizes that the inflation fight is not over
- New record closes for the Dow and the S&P indices.
- Trade ideas thread - Tuesday, 30 January, insightful charts, technical analysis, ideas
Major FX vs. the USD has mainly ended very little changed on the session here.
We had news crossing late in the US afternoon that US President Biden was expected to authorise US military strikes in the Middle East (in response to the weekend news that three US soldiers had been killed, and many more injured, in a drone attack in Jordan). Perhaps Biden has authorised action but there have been no news of any taking place.
In data releases during the session we had Japanese unemployment data and Australian retail sales.
Japan’s jobless rate dropped to 2.4% in December, from 2.5% in November, a very strong headline but not so much for the details:
- 220k people left the labour force in December
- employment fell by 120k
- the jobs-to-applicants ratio fell to 1.27 in December vs 1.28 in November, a second monthly decline
This data doesn’t include wage indications at all.
Australian retail sales in December slumped much more than expected. Seasonal adjustment factors may have played a role (see bullets above for more on this)
Of more interest from Australia will be the Q4 inflation data, there is a preview linked above.
Chinese stocks, both mainland and Hong Kong were heavy again on the day.
