Forex and Bitcoin news for Asia trading Tuesday 31 January 2018
- All the previews of the FOMC in one place!
- 2 more FOMC previews
- Kiwi's jump could still have more room to go
- Trump says North Korea's reckless pursuit of nuke missiles could threaten US
- Canada GDP data is coming up on Wednesday (CAD time ... d'uh!) - previews
- WSJ asks: Does de-emphasis on trade in Trump speech signal a softening?
- The inflation fun don't be done - more to come from Europe tonight
- Trump speaks on infrastructure - wants approval process streamlined to 1-2 years
- FX update as the SOTU speech continues
- US President State of the Union speech - not market moving
- US Pez Trump about to speak - but here is this instead
- Preview .... "expected be one of the more uneventful FOMC meetings" ...but ...
- Next up - US President Trump delivers State of the Union Address - live link
- BOJ dep gov Iwata - BOJ needs to persistently continue easing
- Australian Q4 inflation figures - responses coming in
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at (vs. yesterday at 6.3312)
- BOJ lifts its purchase amounts of JGBs in 3 - 5 years
- Cryptocurrencies getting smashed in Asia
- China official Manufacturing PMI for January: 51.3 (vs. expected 51.6)
- China official non-manufacturing PMI for January: 55.3 (vs. expected 54.9)
- Australia Q4 CPI headline 0.6% q/q (vs. expected +0.7%)
- Australia private sector credit data for December: 0.5% m/m (expected 0.5%)
- BOJ's Kuroda: expects consumer price gains to accelerate as output gap improves policy
- NZ finmin Robertson: Underlying economic indicators are good
- More UK eco data - SMMT UK car output drops for first time since 2009
- UK data: GfK consumer confidence for January -9 (expected -13)
- UK data - BRC Shop Price Index for January -0.5% (expected -0.4%)
- UK data - Lloyds Business Barometer for January: 35 (prior 28)
- BOJ Summary (January meeting): Powerful monetary easing to continue
- Japan Industrial Production (Dec., preliminary): 2.7% m/m (vs. expected 1.5%)
- Preview - Goldman Sachs on what they expect to change from the FOMC today
- Some excerpts from Trump's speech hitting wires - infrastructure plan
- Add this to the agenda today - BOJ Governor Kuroda to speak from 0000 GMT
- UK PM Theresa May warns China to play by global rules
- China data due today - the official PMIs for January will hit at 0100 GMT - preview
- The Australian CPI is today - what for the AUD?
- ForexLive Americas FX news wrap: Stocks battered, FX shrugs
- Apart from CPI data we also get credit growth data from Australia today - preview
- Australian Q4 inflation data due today - MOAR preview
- Trade ideas thread - Wednesday 31 January 2018
- Australian Q4 inflation data due today - previews
- OIL - private inventory data reports larger than expected build in US crude inventory
- The bell has rung, the crowds cheered but the tale of the tape shows losses
- Oil - heads up for the inventory data due around the bottom of the hour
- Economic calendar due from Asia today - BOJ, Aussie CPI
An active day for data and some market movement also.
Bitcoin dropped heavily in Europe/US trade, this didn't help the beleaguered crypto complex:
- Bitfinex and Tether said to be subpoenaed by CFTC
- Bitcoin touches a two-week low after Bitfinex subpoena report then bounces
- A notable detail was added to the Bitfinex/Tether subpoena story
The fall continued into Asia:
Early (very) Asia, or late US (your choice) brought oil inventory survey data, showing a larger than was expected build and sending the oil price lower still (see bullets above).
OK, onto forex. There was plenty of market-moving (or potentially market moving at least) data and news, in order (note, please check out the details for these in the bullets above):
- Japan industrial production (prelim, for December) - a beat
- Bank of Japan 'Summary of Opinions' for the January meeting, with a subtle change in emphasis I noted
- UK data
- Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda spoke in the Diet
- Australian inflation data (we only get official CPI figures once a quarter from the land down under, so always garners attention)
- Australian credit growth data - overshadowed by the CPI but worth paying to regards to - some slowing but also not a really great detail from policy makers perspective
- Official PMIs from China - manufacturing a little slower, services better
- The Bank of Japan increased the amount of JGBs it bought (yes, you read that right - increased)
- And US President Trump spoke - State of the Union address
Whew!
The Australian dollar lost ground after the inflation data. It was a slight miss on headline and one of the core measures, which was enough to see the AUD marked down 40-odd points (before a little bounce). AUD has continued to trade in the lower part of its session range since, but as I update its making an effort to tick higher.As i update, too, NZD/USD is well and truly breaking to a new session high, and the CAD is gaining against the USD. As I noted in the posts above, President Trump did not have much to say on trade - he was expected to be perhaps a little more aggressive on his 'US first' outlook but that wasn't really reflected in the miniscule trade portion of his speech (78 words out of 5200!). A positive for AUD, NZD and CAD indeed.
EUR/USD is slightly higher on the session, USD/CHF is at the lower end of its session range and cable is ticking a few points to the better.
USD/JPY was more active than these three; it popped above 109 (coinciding with the expanded BOJ JGB purchases) then gave it all back to circa 108.80 before trying again over 109 and dipping back toward 108.85 as I update.
Still to come
- Eurozone inflation and unemployment data: The inflation fun don't be done - more to come from Europe tonight
- Canada GDP data is coming up on Wednesday (CAD time ... d'uh!) - previews
- And, of course, Federal Open Market Committee: All the previews of the FOMC in one place!
