- Bitcoin losing some ground
- Australian Treasurer Frydenberg says there will be a review of the RBA after the election
- Norwegian Cruise Line canceled voyages on eight cruise ships, nearly half its fleet
- Japan finance minister Suzuki says FX stability is important
- Chile will begin offering a fourth shot of the coronavirus vaccine next week
- Consumer spending in Australia's two largest cities is down at lockdown levels
- Premier of Australia's largest population state to announce COVID restrictions at 0200GMT
- China - coronavirus restrictions tightened in major city of Shenzen
- Russian paratroopers have arrived in Kazakhstan
- Libya oil output back to around 1m bpd - pipeline repaired
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at 6.3742 (vs. estimate at 6.3720)
- Japan seeking to declare 'quasi emergency' in 3 prefectures to combat virus spread
- Goldman Sachs says China's nominal growth could fall to 1.5% this year
- More Federal Reserve speakers being rolled out on Friday
- Japan November Household spending -1.3% y/y (expected +1.6%)
- Japan wages data forNovember - real wages fell in November for a third month
- Japan data -December Tokyo headline CPI 0.8% y/y (expected 0.7%)
- US December nonfarm payrolls report due Friday 07 January 2022 - preview
- British International Freight Association wants an investigation into container shipping
- Australia's most populous state set to reintroduce coronavirus restrictions
- Moderna CEO says people may need a 4th Covid shot
- Trade ideas thread - Friday 07 January 2022
- GameStop Entering NFT and Cryptocurrency Markets
- Bank of England survey shows firms planning big price rises in the next 12 months
- US stocks finish with a slight decline
AsiaFX mainly sat on its hands awaiting the US data on Friday – nonfarm payroll for December.
USD/JPY popped above 116, briefly, before coming back to more or less unchanged for the session. Cable added on a few points, note the post above about a Bank of England survey finding more more price rises are in the pipeline.
Fresh news flow was light, Australia (and China) tightened coronavirus restrictions a little while ANZ analysis showed consumer spending has dried up to levels last seen in the worst days of lockdowns as Omicron spreads here and a ‘self imposed’ lockdown has gripped the country’s two largest cities. While Australia’s very high vaccination rate is keeping hospital admissions to negligible % levels the sheer high number of cases is translating into a surge into hospitals.
We had data from Japan (see bullets above), core inflation (today’s data was Tokyo area CPI) remains well below the Bank of Japan target.
As for the headline to the wrap, Bitcoin has fallen to levels last seen in late September of 2021. Its lost ground since the more hawkish than expected Federal Open Market Committee minutes this week, as have many other markets. US stock indexes have bounced during Globex trade today though.
