Forex news for Asia trading Tuesday 18 December 2018
- China President Xi speech is finished. Spoke for a long time, didn't say much.
- China President Xi comments on economy - unswerving support!
- China President Xi says no one is in a position to dictate to China
- BoC Poloz: Rates need to be more neutral with economy near capacity
- Japan MoF Asakawa on what is driving the yen
- Westpac on the RBA minutes: should be interpreted more ‘dovishly’
- Goldman Sachs says EURUSD should eventually retrace back to ~1.06
- Japan finance minister Aso says Fed rate hikes are not a bad thing
- Japan finance minister Aso says will reduce tax on buying cars
- Deutsche Bank's yen view for 2019
- Japanese govmt issues revised forecasts, cuts GDP and inflation estimates
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at 6.8854 (vs. yesterday at 6.8908)
- Japan - JGB trading underway … 5yr yield hits lowest since Nov of 2017
- RBA minutes: No strong case for a change in monetary policy
- NZ business confidence survey showed improvement. But wait 'til they get this memo ….
- NZ business confidence: -24.1 (prior -37.1)
- UK Times says PM May will present 3 Brexit countdown options to Cabinet
- Australia weekly consumer confidence (ANZ Roy Morgan) 117.8 (prior 117.7)
- Brexit - UK govmt has taken 'secret legal advice' on extending Article 50
- New Zealand plans to tighten rules for short-term worker visas
- Trade ideas thread - Tuesday 18 December 2018
- China's holdings of US Treasuries have fallen for the 5th month in a row
Chinese stock markets awaited President Xi's speech by trading positively early. Overnight US equity index futures also (re)opened better bid. But, I am getting ahead of myself.
In currencies, NZD/USD got an early boost from an improved business confidence data point, the ANZ Business Outlook Survey. 'Activity' also improved and although the details from the results were not across the board healthy there were enough positives to provide the currency with a boost.
A little later we got RBA minutes (December meeting) that had little initial impact on the AUD. The minutes confirm the RBA is getting a little more cautious, but not enough to switch to a neutral bias for policy, they still see the next move as a hike though not soon. The AUD did trade higher eventually, but not as strong on the session as the kiwi.
The speech from China President Xi came along, but there was not too much in it. It was viewed as a little disappointing with nothing specific on US trade issues. Stocks gave back a little, as did the AUD (NZD, the beast, maintained its highs). At one stage Xi said China may face unimaginable difficulties, not overly warm and comforting that comment.
While Xi was speaking there were remarks from an interview reported by Bank of Canada Governor Poloz. They were on the hawkish side and helped the CAD to add a few points on the session.
The yen carried on its gains it began during the Europe session on Monday, trading under 112.50 at one stage (briefly). This despite the Japanese government lowering projections for GDP and CPI (and more) that suggest any change to change to loose BOJ policy will not be soon (the BOJ meet later this week).
Still to come:
