The RBA May meeting minutes are due today at 9.30pm US Eastern time. At this May meeting the Bank 'surprised' with a 25bp rate hike. Surprised in the sense that about two-thirds of analysts were expecting an on-hold announcement instead. And also a surprise in the sense that at the April meeting, the bank said it was pausing to assess how the previous hikes (10 of them) would impact. Which many took to mean giving a few months or a quarter or so for data to flow through given the RBA has been badgering us with comments that it takes some time for policy changes to work through the economy. Then they hike a month later. Clear thinking and clear communication is in short supply at Australia's central bank. Anyway to today we head more from these muddle-headed wombats.

Also up is Chinese data, which is expected to show improvement.

Economic calendar in Asia 16 May 2023