- China has unveiled a new national real estate register system - makes regulation easier
- Australian Q1 Headline CPI 1.4% q/q (vs. 1.3% expected)
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY mid-point today at 6.9237 (vs. estimate at 6.9250)
- US President Biden will be in Sydney, Australia, on May 24 for Quad leaders meeting
- BOJ Gov Ueda says monetary easing policies are not aimed at funding government spending
- Goldman Sachs says Quants Are ‘Out of Ammo’ for Buying Stocks
- Goldman Sachs says the USD will remain dominant on the world stage for a long time
- New Zealand data: March Exports 6.51bn (5.23bn prior) & Imports 7.78bn (prior 5.95bn)
- Magnitude 5.2 earthquake strikes North Island of New Zealand
- Reopening of the Chinese economy a main driver of global growth? "That’s still uncertain"
- Russia is considering cutting circa US$26bn subsidies to oil firms
- ICYMI - Fitch said the ECB likely to quicken pace of quantitative tightening (QT) in July
- More on the Reserve Bank of New Zealand proposing an easing of LVR restrictions
- BoE's Pill tells Brits to accept they are poorer, stop trying for higher wages
- Private oil survey data shows much larger headline crude oil draw than was expected
- Trade ideas thread - Wednesday, 26 April 2023
- Major US indices close with sharp declines
- PacWest shares jump after hours after the bank reports rising deposits in April
- Microsoft/Google EPS and revenues beat expectations
- Forexlive Americas FX news wrap: Banking woes spark a fresh flight to safety
Relatively subdued market moves persisted during the Asia time zone again today.
AUD traders had been awaiting the March quarter inflation reading from Australia, but it came and went with little response. Inflation rates remain elevated but are showing signs of having peaked, with falls for monthly, q/q and y/y CPI rates all reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics today (see bullets above for the data).
The Reserve Bank of Australia has been, and are, forecasting lower inflation rates ahead. The Bank also argues that changes in monetary policy act with a lag on economic activity and indicators thereof. Combining these two convinced the RBA to hold the cash rate steady at its April meeting after 10 consecutive rises from May 2022 to March 2023 inclusive (the Bank does not have a meeting in January). The decline in inflation reported today will add to the argument for another on hold decision at the May 2 meeting, and indeed market pricing has slumped to under 20% for a hike next week. Having said this, the CPI does remain elevated and RBA forecasts (in this case for continued falls back towards the target band) have been appallingly bad in recent years.
AUD/USD is little changed on the session, down a few tics in a small range only. ‘Little change’ can also applied to other majors.
Asian equity markets:
Japan’s Nikkei 225 -0.5%
China’s Shanghai Composite -0.6%
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng +0.1%
South Korea’s KOSPI +0.1%
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 +0.05%
USD/CNH lost a few points:
