Forex and Bitcoin news for Asia trading Monday 4 June 2018
AUD/JPY had a good one:
- Chinese investment funds liquidations have "surged" since the start of 2018
- Better AUD data today for Q1 indicates risks to GDP forecasts are tilted to the upside
- Hawaii earthquake magnitude 5.5 (volcanic eruption)
- More Australian data: ANZ survey of jobs advertisements for May: +1.5% m/m (prior -0.3%)
- AUD - Australia data: Q1 company profits 5.9% q/q (vs. expected +3.0%)
- AUD - Australia data: Q1 Inventories 0.7% q/q (vs. expected 0.0%)
- AUD - Australia data: April retail sales 0.4% m/m (vs. expected +0.3%)
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY mid-point today at 6.4208 (vs. yesterday at 6.4078)
- Australian private survey inflation data for May: 2.1% y/y (prior 2.0%)
- Analyst sees less & less reasons to get into USD … very powerful fuel for gold
- Weekend GBP info - higher output reported from firms: "positive news"
- US reports of North Korea's top three military officials replaced
- Two upside risks for EUR/USD in the week ahead
- Trade ideas thread - Monday 4 June 2018
Weekend:
- G7 told Mnuchin they have a message for Trump
- BOC's Poloz: There's no question that tariffs add to uncertainty on monetary policy
- June seasonals: It's a rough one for stock markets
- June forex seasonals: US dollar has a hiccup
- Oil breaks support, finishes the week soft
A rather disappointing start to the day with President Trump failing to tweet out any important economic data ahead of time here ;-)
But, I digress ….
The opening of the week was a little subdued early, with NZ markets on holiday creating an even thinner liquidity kick off. Movement was limited in the early hours but eventually we got a wiggle or two.
Weekend news was dominated by trade developments re China and Canada:
- CAD - Kudlow says Trudeau is overreacting to NAFTA dispute, its just a "family quarrel"
- China press warns trade deal will be off if US imposes tariffs
- More weekend news: Saudi Crown Prince, UK PM May discuss Iran (nukes) and oil
- Weekend oil news: OPEC, non-OPEC stress need for continued cooperation
And so the focus switched to what was happening here on Monday - the items of most interest being Australian data points. These came out with beats across the board:
- AUD - Australia data: Q1 company profits 5.9% q/q (vs. expected +3.0%)
- AUD - Australia data: Q1 Inventories 0.7% q/q (vs. expected 0.0%)
- AUD - Australia data: April retail sales 0.4% m/m (vs. expected +0.3%)
The Australian dollar responded with a small pop and then consolidated its move higher:
- AUD shorts … been adding to short positions. CFTC data showed leveraged funds short, but also that real money accounts added to their shorts on the week (the data current as of May 29 is the latest). The data today spurred some covering
AUD was not the only gainer, though, with a generally weaker (just a little bit) USD. I say generally as it did outperform against the yen.
EUR/USD has steadily gained ground, as has cable.
Still to come:
