Forex news for Asia trading for Friday 19 March 2021
- Goldman Sachs forecasts Brent to rise to $80/bbl over northern summer
- The Bank of Japan announcement is expected any time now (no set schedule)
- Oil has steadied in Asia somewhat after its huge fall Thursday US time
- Canada says the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine outweigh the risks
- South Korea to accelerate their rollout of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY mid-point today at 6.5098 (vs. yesterday at 6.4859)
- PBOC to sell 6 month yuan bills in Hong Kong, 5bn yuan amount
- Australia retail sales (preliminary, February) -1.1% m/m (vs. expected +0.6%)
- UK - GfK Consumer Confidence for February -16 (expected -20, prior -23)
- The Bank of Japan policy review announcement is due Friday - another preview
- Japan national CPI (February), headline rate -0.4% (vs. expected -0.4% y/y)
- US official says China grandstanding, public theatrics, dramatics over substance
- BOJ policy review will be fine-tuning, not an overhaul (also stealth tapering)
- ICYMI - Germany, France and Italy to resume AstraZeneca rollout from Friday
- China's Foreign Minister Yang says China firmly opposes US meddling in its internal affairs
- Ford is cutting some production due to the chip shortage
- Bank of Japan policy review announcement due today - preview
- The US-China talks in Alaska are underway
- Trade ideas thread - Friday 19 March 2021
The first high-level talks between the US and China since Biden's new administration took office plunged into acrimonious exchanges within moments. A planned four-minute photo opportunity prior to the summit meeting descended into an hour and quarter of accusations and criticisms from both sides over the other's human rights, trade and democratic record. A US official said the Beijing delegation "seems to have arrived intent on grandstanding." As we have seen in recent months China's response to strains with the US is to take action against US allies, Australia has been a specific target with imposts on the country's products imported into China. Perhaps not coincidentally then that AUD was the worst performer on the major forex board here during Asia for the session.
US-China talks in Alaska continue tomorrow.
Apart from this, fresh news flow was pretty much nothing, and data releases were non-impactful. Australian retail sales in February (preliminary) missed expectations.
Regional stock markets declined following the lead set on Wall Street Thursday. Oil found a small bounce.
As I post we are still awaiting the announcement from the Bank of Japan on their monetary policy review.
