Forex and Bitcoin news for Asia trading Tuesday 15 May 2018
- Responses to the RBA minutes coming in - "The issues remain the same"
- Reuters poll shows expectations are for a slower BOJ exit
- China data: April retail sales +9.4% y/y (vs exp at +10.0%) IP +7.0% (6.4%)
- Moody's says China is unlikely to meet US demands on bilateral trade
- RBA's Debelle speaking again - no remarks on AUD, economy, nor monetary policy
- RBA minutes: More likely next cash rate move is up rather than down
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at 6.3486 (vs. yesterday at 6.3345)
- Goldman Sachs on Italian political risk: "We think the market is complacent"
- RBA's Debelle says he does not see a strong case for a near term rate rise
- Trade ideas: Super Tuesday edition
Another pretty much sideways day for Asia FX with very little in the way of fresh drivers.
We did get April activity data from China (retail sales, industrial output, and investment numbers), coming in at a mixed bag. Check out the bullet above for the details but the 'in a nutshell' version is that industrial production beat estimates, an encouraging indication for economic growth, but retail sales missed which is a.little disappointing for indications of domestic demand growth (while sales did miss estimates, they were not weak though).
We also got RBA minutes and a speech (actually 2, but only one pertinent for the economy/policy/AUD) from Deputy Governor Debelle.
But, yeah, little FX movement at all - small ranges for the major traded currencies indeed. EUR/USD has managed to struggle off the canvas after a heavy NY session - it looks more like a bounce than an new impetus higher though. USD/JPY steadied around its overnight highs circa 109.70 and thereabouts.
NZD/USD showed little signs of bouncing, and AUD/USD ... well almost ditto.
Bank research:
- Goldman Sachs on oil - price rally primarily driven by improving fundamentals
- JPM on the "new news" for equity markets (and its good news)
- Deutsche warns Australia is poorly prepared for the next global slowdown
Still to come:
- Heads up for BOJ Governor Kuroda to speak later today (0630GMT)
- NZD traders - heads up for the GDT dairy auction due today (Tuesday, London time)
- Data coming up in the US on Tuesday - previews of business conditions & retail sales
- Australian wage growth data is due tomorrow - preview of Q1 Wage Price Index
