Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Lowe met privately with a group of bankers last Thursday and was reported to have “considered aloud … the possibility that Australia’s cash rate could go as far in this rising cycle as the US Federal Reserve’s (now at 4.5-4.75 per cent).” The article (gated) goes on with “three-year bond futures sold off on Thursday afternoon”. More detail in the bullets above. Lowe’s term expires on September 17 but there are calls for him to resign sooner.

Yen was a mover today, with USD/JPY trading to highs (as I post) just above 132.00. The market is abuzz with speculation that any BOJ policy change under the new Governor, Ueda, will be very slow and cautious. Ueda will testify in parliament on February 24 and again on February 27 (see bullets above).

The USD gained a little ground against other majors also, although mvoes were not large. EUR, AUD, NZD, GBP, CAD, CHF are all lower against the big dollar to varying degrees.

There was no data of note from the timezone apart from Q4 GDP out of Singapore.

Sports news - the

Kansas City Chiefs beat the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35 to win the Super Bowl.

Asian equity markets:

  • Japan’s Nikkei 225 -0.9%

  • China’s Shanghai Composite +0.5%

  • Hong Kong’s Hang Seng -0.6%

  • South Korea’s KOSPI -0.7%

  • Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 -0.2%

usdyen wrap chart 13 February 2023