Forex and Bitcoin news for Asia trading Friday 27 July 2018
- Chinese state banks seen selling USD / buying yuan today
- Bloomberg following up on the Trump / Russia meeting / Cohen story
- For all the ForexLive technology people: China Faces Severe Shortage of Fintech Talent
- Japan finance minister Aso says reaffirmed forex commitments at G20 meeting
- China data: Chinese Industrial Profits for June 20.0% y/y, (prev. 21.1%)
- Australian data: Q2 PPI +0.3% q/q (prior 0.5%) and +1.5% y/y (prior +1.7%)
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at 6.7942 (vs. yesterday at 6.7662)
- BOJ conducts its JGB buys as scheduled - but no sign of fixed rate operation
- US politics - Cohen willing to attest Trump knew about Russia meeting
- Trump hones his GDP tip: Not 5.3%, but "if it has a 4 in front of it, we’re happy"
- Japan data: Tokyo headline CPI 0.9% y/y (expected 0.7%)
- End of month on the way, CA expect to see selling of USD
- Asia intervention chatter, Chinese state banks said to have sold USD/yuan on Thursday
- IMF forecasts China growth at 6.6% for 2018
- NZ data, ANZ's consumer confidence for July 118.0 vs 120.0 previous
- Mexico's economy minister says he had very positive Nafta talks with US
- 5 reasons the US dollar will appreciate further in the months ahead
- White House says Trump can still hit the EU with tariffs if no deal
- The Winklevoss twins bitcoin ETF has been rejected for approval by the SEC
- Trade ideas thread - Friday 27 July 2018
- US President Trump says he thinks Friday's GDP numbers in the US will be terrific
The majors didn't do much at all, maintaining small ranges, but China's currency was again a mover.
Its not like there wasn't anything going on, most notably the yield on 10 year Japanese Government Bonds continued its climb. The yield got above (I am almost embarrassed to be highlighting this) 0.1% (yeah, zero point one percent, I know, right???) but in the context of where the Bank of Japan have the target set for this as part of their Yield Curve Control policy, at around zero percent, and given we saw intervention in the market on Monday there were, quite legitimately, expectations we would see the Bank in again today with a bid for benchmark bonds. Didn't happen. Then again, the BOJ does seem to march to the beat of its own drum so no-one was overly surprised when we got the big nothing.
We got some data from Japan today. Tokyo-area July CPI (comes ahead of nationwide CPI for the same month). Edging higher, way off target (the TL;DR version).
As for the yen, well it showed some strength. Not a lot, from a USD/JPY high above 111.20 it fell under 111.00 and is on its session low as I post.
Ranges elsewhere were no better. EUR/USD has edged back some of its overnight losses. OK, barely any. Up from circa 1.1640 to around 1.1655 as I update. Against the USD, AUD, up a few tics, GBP ditto, CAD ditto. NZD/USD is flattish.
China. The People's Bank of China set the mid rate lower for the CNY today, but not at at its weakest for the week. I think the devaluation train has not run its course and there is more to come. Chinese state banks were again reported to be sellers of USD (buyers of yuan) today.
Just for a change, hourly onshore yuan chart:
Stay tuned ahead for US data Friday morning US time. Mr. T has taken some of the anticipation away with leaks of around 4.8%, which would be a big result. Q3 and Q4 are expected to see some give back but they are months and months away.
Still to come:
