Forex news for Asia trading Wednesday 3 April 2019
- ADB warn developing Asia could slow for a second straight year in 2019
- Fitch Ratings says has a negative sector outlook on Chinese banks
- China's Foreign Minister says China has no intention to split, weaken the EU
- ICYMI - Trump blasting Powell … but 'I guess I'm stuck with you'
- China Caixin/Markit PMIs for March: Services and Composite both improve
- BOJ dep gov Wakatabe says inflation is subdued globally
- NZ finmin Robertson says global slow down is a risk to NZ economy
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY mid-point today at 6.7194 ( yesterday at 6.7193)
- FT report: US and China draw closer to final trade agreement
- AUD higher on better Australian data (beats for retail sales and the trade balance in Feb.)
- Japan - March Nikkei/Markit PMIs: Services 52.0 (prior 52.3) and Composite 50.4 (prior 50.7)
- Australia February trade balance: AUD +4.801bn (vs. expected AUD +3.7bn)
- Australia Retail Sales for February: 0.8% m/m (expected 0.3%)
- Westpac now calling for an RBNZ rate cut at the May meeting
- NZ - ANZ index of commodity prices for March: +1.4% y/y (prior +2.8%)
- GS likes GBP on 'break the Brexit logjam' … TD says 'No'.
- (ICYMI) Goldman Sachs on Brexit and GBP … probable break-the-Brexit logjam good for pound
- Fed Governor Bowman speaking - no comments on her outlook for the economy nor policy
- UK data - BRC shop price index for March: 0.9% y/y (prior +0.7%)
- Trump's pick for the Fed (Stephen Moore) says he believes in a stable dollar
- AUD technical analysis chart: "0.7150/60 is essential for further rebound"
- Australia (final, March) CBA Services PMI 49.3 (flash was 49.8) & Composite 49.5 (flash 50.0)
- Australian Industry Group Performance of Services index for March: 44.8 (prior 44.5)
- Theresa May's latest updated Brexit plan, talks with Corbyn. The Maybyn Plan? Theremy Plan?
- Brexit - DUP says May 'lamentable handling of negotiations' (pot, kettle, black)
- Trade ideas thread - Wednesday 3 April 2019
- Oil - private data shows a surprise build in headline crude inventory
The Australian dollar was helped along today by data and news, with any less favourable items shrugged off. AUD/USD has slid a few points from above 0.7070 to under 0.7060 ahead of the local data of focus (retail sales, and to a lesser extent trade). Retail sales came in at a huge beat (see bullets above), and the trade surplus tagged along,
Retails sales best month result since November 2017
Trade surplus record high (helped by strong commodity prices, and smaller than expected imports)
A further boost was received from an FT piece saying China and the US were getting closer to a trade agreement. The details of the article noted that the difficult issues (for example implementation and enforcement) are still being negotiated, leading less than kind readers of the article (like me) to conclude there was no real new news in the piece; the easy bits are solved, the hard bits remain unresolved. We know this.
AUD didn't care, it went higher.
China (Caixin) Services PMI (best for 14 months) came next, which is pretty much a non-market mover, but not today. The AUD gobbled up the improvement on the Services PMI (and on the Composite PMI out at the same time), adding a few more points.
It was not just the AUD, though, regional stocks are all higher for the session, yen has fallen (as 'risk' became more attractive). EUR/USD is up, as is kiwi and CAD. With the USD/JPY move yen crosses have had a good session.
USD/CHF and cable are not too much changed (cable is up a little and close to its session high).
On cable, stay tuned for more Brexit (what else is there?) PM May will be answering questions in parliament today (from 1100GMT) while the European Parliament debates Brexit from 1230GMT.
Still to come:
