Forex news for Asia trading Thursday 18 June 2020
- PBOC Gov says economy is sound, monetary policy still in normal range
- Australian PM Morrison says the hit to jobs from coronavirus is devastating
- China says again it opposes US Uigher rights bill, vows to retaliate
- More from Trump - says wont be closing the country again
- ADB take a sword to their developing Asia 2020 growth forecast: slashed to 0.1% (from 2.2%)
- Trump says very close to a vaccine
- China's vice Premier says economy has gradually improved
- China plans to lower the threshold for foreign investment in listed firms
- Australian jobs report for May, employment change: -227.7K (vs. expected -78.8K)
- The PBOC has cut rates on its 14 day reverse repo to 2.35% (from 2.55%)
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at 7.0903 (vs. yesterday at 7.0873)
- FX option expiries for Thursday June 18 at the 10am NY cut
- NZ fin min says biggest impact from coronavirus on economy will be in Q2
- HK media: There may be no immunity against Covid-19, new Wuhan study suggests
- More rockets have been fired in Baghdad Green Zone in Iraq
- Japanese firms under pressure from the coronavirus - - worker lay offs & pay cuts
- New Zealand GDP for Q1 -1.6% q/q (vs. expected -1.0%)
- One for the IT folks - big banks are back hiring for their tech departments
- Australia - NAB cut to home loan rate
- Japan press report the government is to revise its economic assessment higher in June
- More from Fed's Mester - Federal Reserve has more room on balance sheet if needed
- Some oil news ICYMI - US shale producers to boost oil output by 500,000 bpd by month-end
- Brazil's central bank the latest to cut its benchmark rate, Selic trimmed by 75bps
- A US - UK trade deal is unlikely before the US presidential election in November
- Trade ideas thread - Thursday 18 June 2020
- More from Fed's Mester - says the Fed is looking for further ways to support economy
- Fed's Mester has a dire outlook on GDP, unemployment but expects economy to pick up later in 2020
Early Asia trade saw a lower USD/JPY, currencies elsewhere a little lower against the USD and equities once again under selling pressure.
The data focus for the session was, first, the Q1 GDP from New Zealand, which came in worse than already negative expectations, and then the Australian jobs report which also came in (much, much) worse than already negative expectations. AUD and NZD have been losers on the session, of course, but currency losses against the USD have been wider, as already referred to.
Other less than supportive news came out HK (no COVID-19 immunity - see bullets above), US President Trump once again blamed China for spreading the virus (Trump was interviewed on Fox), while China warned the US it would retaliate, and the US would have to bear the consequences, over the US Uigher bill.
There were less than dour items, though, though these were not enough to do much more than slow declines, such as:
- China Vice Premier Liu He signalled looser policy ahead from the PBOC
- and in fact the PBOC did cut an interest rate today (0.2% off the 14 day RR rate)
- PBOC Gov Yi Gang also flagged room to ease further
For the oil folks - the OPEC JMMC meeting begins at 14:00 Vienna time.
- which is 1200GMT
AUD/JPY down on the session:
