Forex news for Asia trading Wednesday, May 15 2019
- Calling all technical analysts - short term head and shoulders in bitcoin?
- China RRR cuts - first phase took effect today
- Larger stimulus on the way from China in response to weak data?
- China's President Xi says international situation is more volatile & uncertain
- BOJ Gov Kuroda says if consumer prices lost momentum would consider additional easing
- China's NBS says April's economic operations are within a reasonable range
- A series of misses from China's April activity data - NBS promises efforts to steady growth
- China Retail sales for April: 7.2% y/y (expected 8.6%)
- China April Industrial production: 5.4% y/y (expected 6.5%)
- China Fixed asset investment (excl rural) for April 6.1% y/y (expected 6.4%)
- Australia Wage price index for Q1: 0.5% q/q (expected 0.6%)
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY central rate at 6.8649 (vs. yesterday at 6.8365)
- South Korea fin min says monitoring if any herd behaviour in FX market. Moo.
- Recap of comments earlier from San Francisco Federal Reserve President Daly
- Australia - Westpac monthly consumer sentiment: +0.6% m/m (prior +1.9%)
- Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda to speak from the Japanese parliament again today
- ICYMI: China may regulate energy imports from the US
- Yuan and the line in the sand at 7 (USD/CNY)
- US President Trump expected to sign order paving way for U.S. telecoms ban on Huawei
- Fed's Daly says US economic recovery and expansion don't look as sluggish
- EUR/AUD trade recommendation
- Australia election coming up - impact of a change of government
- More from Gundlach: Expects to see negative signs on stock markets later this year
- U.S. Central Command raises level of alert for service members re Iran
- Trade ideas thread - Wednesday 15 May 2019
- Jeff Gundlach says there is weakness showing up in US economic indicators
- Brexit - UK opposition leader says won't back deal without further concessions
- Fitch ratings agency on … errr … soybeans. China could purchase fewer US beans.
- Private oil storage report shows a surprise build in headline crude stock
The 'activity data' from China for April came in at a miss on all three of the major indicators:
- Industrial production
- Retail sales
- And investment
- (see bullets above)
Market response was restrained after some initial knee jerk. Regional equities here have taken their lead from gains on Wall Street Tuesday and not so much from the weaker Chinese data. In FX the AUD is on the soft side but it is little net changed from where it was prior to the data.
There is always the argument that weak data from China, especially on the scale seen here in the April data, will prompt stimulus from authorities. As an aside, today saw the first phase of RRR cuts announced last week come into effect. Perhaps this provided a cushion to the AUD. Also in the mix was data from Australia earlier that showed wage growth continues slow and adds a straw to the camels back of rate cuts. The RBA is a cranky old beast though and it'll take a bit more than this. The monthly jobs report from Australia is due tomorrow, another straw perhaps?
Currency movement was subdued across the board. EUR/USD is barely changed on the session, as is cable. USD/JPY ditto. NZD and AUD both a touch softer.
Still to come:
- Canada monthly inflation data due today - preview
- FX option expiries Wednesday 15 May 2019 at the 10am NY cut
- US retail sales data for April is due Wednesday 15 May - preview
AUD/JPY for the session:
