- Australia – AIG Performance of Construction index for October: 53.4 (prior was 59.1)
- Nikkei – Japan’s sales tax debate heats up; Tokyo ready to go either way
- Japan Buying Foreign Bonds, Y 806.6B (plus, the rest of this data)
- Japan economy minister Amari: Desirable for FX to move in stable manner
- Japan finance minister Aso: Government should raise sales tax again next year as scheduled
- Reserve Bank of Australia Statement on Monetary Policy published now
- S&P sovereign ratings head Moritz Kraemer: ‘Writing of QE is on the wall’ for Europe
- Reserve Bank of Australia Statement on Monetary Policy published
- Federal Reserve Mester: Rate liftoff could be delayed if economy disappoints
- Cleveland Federal Reserve President Mester – taking audience questions
- Federal Reserve Mester floats changes to the way Fed makes forecasts
- Federal Reserve Mester: Expects interest rates to rise some time in 2015
After yesterday’s yen fireworks a more subdued session for currencies this Friday in Asia.
EUR/USD tracked sideways after a 20 point bounce from early lows, finding resistance at 1.2385. EUR/JPY was similar, up a little over 40 points from US afternoon lows and then tracking sideways. USD/JPY, meanwhile, peaked above 115.35 in early Tokyo and after shedding around 30 points settled in the middle of its range.
Cable hit session lows in very early Sydney/late NY, saw a 20-odd point bounce and is back very close to those lows as i type.
AUD/USD saw some sharp action around the release of the RBA’s quarterly Statement on Monetary Policy, dipping below 0.8550 very briefly before settling in a 47 – 72 range and is near its lows as of writing.
The NZD/USD continued its down trend, hitting lows not seen since June of 2012.
Oil was a little heavy from early session highs, gold tested briefly to $1139 before finding a small bounce and is just above $1140.50 now.
Heads up for Australian dollar traders particularly – Weekend data coming up from China