The headline to this wrap is the six-word summary of the moves across markets to open the week. The news catalyst was the weekend announcement of Trump’s pick to head the US Treasury, ex-Soros executive Scott Bessent. The announcement has seen USTs rise sharply (futures gapped higher) and the US dollar fall sharply (really early Asia trade, hours before Tokyo became active, saw the USD gap lower). The US bond market move is a clear sign of stabilisation after a sell-off lasting around two months.

USD/JPY has been a notable loser, dropping as low as briefly under 153.60. Its back above 154.00 as I update.

EUR, AUD, NZD GBP, CAD, CHF too – all gained. There have been various degrees of retracement (not a lot for EUR/USD, a little more for AUD/USD, for example).

Looking at some local developments, New Zealand Q3 retail sales showed another fall, at -0.1% q/q. This, however, was nowhere close to as bad as the Q2 fall of -1.2% and also not as bad as the -0.5% expected. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand meet this week (Wednesday 27th) and a 50bp rate cut appears locked in. There have been some thoughts of a 75bp rate cut but ‘not as bad as it could have been’ results for unemployment and retail sales have sapped some of these expectations. NZD/USD traded mainly in line with the broader US dollar moves today.

The People’s Bank of China injected 900 billion yuan into the banking system today via one-year policy, medium-term lending facility (MLF), loans. The rate was left unchanged at 2%. The 900bn yuan injection, however, did not cover the 1,450bn yuan maturing this month.

Gold has been slammed lower, with lows circa 2661 USD. Bitcoin remains shy of $100K.

us treausry bounce wrap 25 November 2024