- RBA's Lowe: We're prepared to be patient, don't need to move in lockstep with others
- Lowe Q&A: It remains to be seen if rates will rise this year
- New Zealand Q4 unemployment rate 3.2% vs 3.4% expected
- China reports 63 new covid cases vs 66 a day earlier
- BOJ's Kuroda: Cannot accept view that BOJ has led to deteriorating of regional banks
- PayPal executives warns on consumer spending
- UK December BRC shop price index y/y +1.5% vs +0.8% prior
- No reaction in oil after private US oil inventories
- It's increasingly difficult to believe that Hong Kong will ever get omicron under control
Markets:
- Gold down $2 to $1798
- WTI crude up 28-cents to $88.48
- US 10-yaer yields down 1 bps to 1.79%
- Nikkei 225 up 1.7%
- S&P 500 futures up 21 points
- AUD leads, NZD lags
The FX moves have been nearly nil so far in Asia-Pacific trade, with China and a handful of other countries off for lunar new year holidays. The Australian dollar is leading the pack but all the moves are tiny. It had made more progress up to 0.7146 earlier but Lowe put some minor pressure on it as he made it very clear that he's still on team transitory.
The New Zealand dollar has struggled for traction despite the positive risk tone. The unemployment headline was good but wage growth wasn't and falling particpation might have flattered the unemployment rate. There was some minor selling on the headlines and it hasn't been able to get moving.
In the stock market, Google shares surged on earnings to lift futures but PayPal was crushed and warned on soft consumer spending. That will be an interesting theme to watch.
The majors are mostly chopping sideways as the risk trade rules all at the moment. With rates stabilizing there's some optimism and plenty of recent breakouts have come back into ranges. The upcoming main events are Thursday with the ECB and BOE, followed by US non-farm payrolls on Friday.
