- Mt Gox and German cops hit Bitcoin lower, under US$56K
- European Central Bank President Lagarde is speaking again on Friday
- Japan finance minister Suzuki says weak yen is pushing up import costs
- New York Federal Reserve President John Williams speaks on Friday, pre NFP
- More on the People's Bank of China move to stabilize government bond yeilds
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at 7.1289 (vs. estimate at 7.2704)
- The PBOC is preparing capacity for large scale yuan bond sales
- US non-farm payrolls data - the key ranges for estimates to watch
- Julius Baer like further upside in Japanese equities
- Japan official with excuses for poor household spending in May
- Japan data - May household spending -1.8% y/y (expected +0.1%)
- Election result gives green light to August BoE rate cut - GBP to drift lower
- US media - wealthy Democratic donors say won’t finance the party until Joe Biden drops out
- UK political stability (relative to elsewhere) will support UK markets ahead
- ICYMI - ECB's Lagarde says the Bank needs to see more data to see inflation towards 2%
- GBP is little changed after the UK election exit poll
- UK exit poll tips a solid win to Labour, 410 seats - new UK government incoming
- Reserve Bank of New Zealand policy meeting next week - rates to be left on hold
- Forexlive Americas FX news wrap: USA-on-holiday edition
- Trade ideas thread - Friday, 5 July, insightful charts, technical analysis, ideas
- Preview: June non-farm payrolls by the numbers -- the headwinds are starting to blow
There were a couple of notable news events during the session; the UK election results and the PBOC preparing to build a war chest of bonds to sell.
From the UK we had as-expected election result. A massive landslide win for the Labour Party and a disastrous loss for the incumbent Conservative Party. We are still awaiting full results but the exit poll showed:
Labour to win 410 seats, the most by any party since 2001
Conservatives routed with 131 seats, the fewest since the party was founded in 1834 (190 years if you are counting)
Liberal Democrats on 61
Reform UK on 13, leader Nigel Farrage won a seat
SNP 10
Greens 2
GBP has barely moved after the election. A huge win for Labour was forecast in the weeks leading up to the poll.
The other big news was from China, where the People’s Bank of China signed agreements with major banks/institutions to borrow Chinese treasury bonds. The Bank will sell these bonds when it sees fit, and based on market conditions, to drive prices lower/yields higher. Chinese government bonds have been rising strongly (yields lower) and its this move the PBOC is aiming to combat.
The favouring of risk FX over the USD carried on, with AUD, NZD, EUR and GBP rising a little on the session. The CHF rose also.
Meanwhile, the yen gained ground. It registered losses earlier in the session, a catalyst seeming to be very, very poor household consumption data (see bullets above). USD/JPY rose to highs circa 161.40 but soon retraced. The downside momentum for USD/JPY (ie stronger yen) was added to by some more forthright than usual remarks from Japan’s finance minister Suzuki.
The cryptyo complex lost ground. BTC/USD dropped under US$56K (see bullets above).
