Forex news for Asia trading Thursday 14 May 2020
- Response to the Australian jobs report
- The FBI has served a warrant on the US Senator who dumped shares on coronavirus
- Australian Treasurer Frydenberg says economic numbers will get worse before they get better
- NZ budget projects net debt will surge to 53.6% of GDP by 2023
- Australian PM Morrison says a hard news on job losses
- AUD and NZD fall to fresh session lows after the terrible Australian job loss numbers
- Australia jobs report April: Employment Change -594.3K (vs. -575K expected) 6.2% unemployment rate
- CFTC warns oil prices could go negative again
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at 7.0948 (vs. yesterday at 7.0875)
- FX option expiries for Thursday May 14 at the 10am NY cut
- Australia survey of consumer inflation expectations, for May 3.4% (prior 4.6%)
- World Trade Organization's Director General Roberto Azevedo plans to resign
- PBOC expected to inject funds today - MLF matures, new one on the way
- Hedge-fund manager Kyle Bass says US heading to economic depression, even worse for China
- China planning large-scale military exercise in South China Sea
- Here is a bullish view on AUD/USD
- US Navy warship sailed through the Taiwan Strait
- US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin says he spoke with Federal Reserve Chair Powell today
- UK data - RICS monthly house price balance for April down 21%
- Overnight news ICYMI - China growth target for the year
- JP Morgan EUR/CHF - a stop below 1.05 could inflict damage - what to do instead
- NAB on the AUD/USD - watching for a range break
- "Cash on the sidelines" in Australia: AUD28bn for infrastructure, property projects
- AUD vulnerable due to US-China tensions (ICYMI) - target for AUD/USD
- Trade ideas thread - Thursday 14 May 2020
- Trump says he likes negative interest rates
- RBNZ Governor Orr says he does not rule out direct purchase of government bonds
- BoE Gov Bailey says stands ready to help finance government spending to combat COVID-19
- RBNZ Gov Orr - interest rate low for the foreseeable future
- US Energy dept to buy up to 1 m bbls of sweet crude oil for strategic reserve
The early move was a lower USD/JPY, dropping under 107 as the Asia morning became a little more active. More substantial currency moves followed the release of the Australian jobs marekt report for April, where a large number of job losses was the expected, and in the event, was the result. Employment dropped in the month by a record 594,300. The details of the report showed a big drop in hours worked (2.7 million people either lost their jobs or had their hours reduced ) and rising underemployment. Labour market participation slumped with nearly half a million withdrawals from the labour force. The Australian Bureau of Statistics said that without this the unemployment rate would have skyrocketed to around 9.6%.
AUD fell to a fresh session, with the NZD along for the ride lower. But the impact was wider with falls for GBP and EUR alongside. The dire employment outcome is going to be duplicated in other countries in the days, weeks and months ahead.
We had more debt monetization hints from central bankers today - RBNZ Gov Orr again and also Bank of England Governor Bailey (see bullets above).
