Forex news for Asia trading Wednesday 18 March 2015
- 2 salient points on the FOMC meeting ... what the Fed really wants to get across to markets
- Japan press: "Wage hikes key to escaping deflation, says BOJ's Kuroda "
- China February home price data: Beijing new home prices -3.6% y/y
- New way of pricing gold to come into operation on Friday (20 March)
- 5 things to watch in the Federal Reserve FOMC meeting
- Gold bulls! I've got good news ... and bad news
- FOMC preview / outlook from Goldman Sachs and others
- Australia's Macquarie Bank slashes iron ore price forecast
- Japan - February trade balance: Y -424.6bn (expected is Y -986.6bn)
- Australia - Westpac Leading Index for February: +0.3% m/m ( prior was +0.1%)
- EUR/USD technical analysis - "signs of embarking on a strong, near-term correction "
- FOMC preview - Will Yellen light the touchpaper for rate liftoff?
- NZD - Westpac lowers Fonterra milk payout forecast
- Oil data from API - crude inventories higher
- NZ data - BoP Current Account Balance for Q4: -3.19bn (expected -3.06bn)
It really was a waiting day in Asia ahead of the FOMC announcement and Yellen's presser. There was even little in the way of covering moves as positions were squared, perhaps this came earlier on the week ... but we'll likely see more in the hours immediately prior to 2pm in NY.
EUR, GBP, CHF all gained a few points against the USD.
USD/JPY was pretty much sideways around about 121.30/35 for the session, plus or minus a few tics.
The usually-reliable AUD and NZD let us down ... ranges subdued.
Oil and gold followed suit, minor movement only after the late US slip lower again for oil.
Coming up much later ... Life after the FOMC ... RBNZ and SNB coming up on Thursday
