ForexLive Asia FX news: US politics again ... doesn’t fuss the market too much

Forex news for Asia trading Wednesday 10 May 2017

Goldman Sachs preview of the RBNZ meeting this week - no change expected
More from Kuroda now (and pretty much more of the same)
Earlier the shock news: 'Trump fires Comey!' The market response: Yawn
Moody's: China non-property company credit profiles improve - stabilizing commodity prices
PBOC injected funds through Pledged Supplementary Lending today
China (April) inflation: CPI 1.2% y/y (expected 1.1%) PPI 6.4% y/y (expected 6.7%)
BOJ's Kuroda: No comment on desirable level of FX
PBOC sets USD/CNY reference rate for today at 6.9066 (vs. yesterday at 6.9037)
Barclays on Australia and the Australian dollar
Japan ex-MOF Watanabe: FX market has been volatile due to surprises
Please add to this "still to come" list: OZ budget surplus, 2% inflation in Japan ...
More US politics: Trump to meet with Russian foreign minister Wednesday
BOJ Governor Kuroda: Need to continue powerful easing
BOJ 'Summary of Opinions' (April meeting) - full text
Note this China data due sometime this week (but don't hold your breath)
(Not FX) Bike riders be careful out there - TDF winner Froome hit by car in France
BOJ Governor Kuroda due to speak from the top of the hour
Australian budget: "Nation-building ... stimulus ... surplus ... & heroic assumptions"
New Zealand card spending (April): Retail +1.1% m/m (expected 0.6%) & Total +0.5% m/m
Its inflation data from China today, CPI and PPI for April - preview
NZ data - ANZ Truckometer (April): -1.8% m/m (prior +1.7%)
US politics: Trump has fired FBI director James Comey
Fed's Kaplan (more): Sees risks to his view for 3 hikes as balanced
A end of day snapshot of the currency days winners and losers
Economic data due from Asia today - it's the best day of the month!
Trade ideas thread - Wednesday 10 May 2017
ICYMI: ForexLive Americas FX news wrap: North Korea shakes it up late
OIL - private inventory data shows US crude stocks had a bigger draw than expected
Fed's Kaplan: Baseline view is still 3 rate hikes in 2017
US stocks end the day with mixed results

Well, I thought the big news was the Truckometer. Clearly I've been outvoted.

Yes ladies and gentlemen, US politics again at the top of the news today, with President Trump firing FBI Director Comey. The response from markets was mild.

USD/JPY had been on the back foot since late NY time when some USD/JPY longs covered (by selling) on the announcement from the crabby state (OK, Hermit state if you prefer) that they'd be continuing with their nuclear weapons testing, thank-you very much. The news of Comey's firing had little further impact; the late US lows circa 113.80 were extended by a few tics (under 113.65 at one stage before back to around 90 and now as I update under 113.80 again).

We had plenty from Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda today, along with BOJ communication (the 'Summary' of the April meeting) but nothing in his comments came as a surprise too much at all.

EUR/USD, meanwhile had a decent rally (for Asia), tracking from circa 1.0870 towards (but not quite to) 1.0900. AUD/USD, too, was a small gainer, its up around 20-odd points for the session, as is NZD/USD. Cable too has managed a gain. There was little specific news on any of these currencies hitting the wires during the session, and apart from Trump and Chinese inflation data for April (see bullets above) news and data flow was light indeed.

USD/CAD and USD/CHF are both barely changed on the session. Gold is a few dollars higher, as is oil which gained a little on the private inventory report late US time (a bigger draw in headline crude than expected - we await official data from the US Wednesday morning).

Regional equities: