Forex news for Asia trading on Wednesday 19 May 2021
- PBOC social media post - digital tokens cannot be used as a form of payment
- Japan chief cabinet secretary Kato is talking of adding further areas to State of Emergency
- Japan may once again be facing tight electricity supply
- New York State launch criminal investigation into Trump organisation
- Australia Wage Price Index for Q1 2021: +0.6% q/q (vs. expected 0.5%)
- More on the European Parliament to vote on freezing China deal
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY mid-point today at 6.4255 (vs. yesterday at 6.4357)
- Australia consumers - Preference for Chinese-made goods falling
- US comments now on USMCA trade deal - further comments on labor
- Australia - Westpac Consumer Confidence Index for May: -4.8% m/m (prior +6.2%)
- USMCA trade ministers statement - highlight labor issues
- US gas distributor Colonial Pipeline further computer problems - not a cyber attack this time
- A BTC ICYMI - China bans financial institutions from offering cryptocurrency services
- UK PM Johnson - nothing conclusive to say we need to deviate from plans to end coronavirus restrictions
- Bitcoin looks to test its recent lows
- US Treasury Secretary Yellen said Biden's infrastructure plan will improve the global competitiveness of US companies
- NZ data, PPI for Q1 2021: PPI input +2.1% q/q (prior 0%) & Output +1.2% q/q (prior 0.4%)
- Moody's expect EU funds will boost growth, cut debt in Southern Europe
- US House passes a bill to codify insider trading ban
- Goldman Sachs still targeting EUR/USD at 1.25
- US Senators see progress on the Republican infrastructure proposal, still some way to go though
- ICYMI: Biden is delaying his revamp of Trump's blacklist on China
- Japan to expand support for domestic production of advanced semiconductors and batteries
- Canada-U.S. border restrictions have been extended for another month (to June 21)
- Reports that the EU is to freeze its investment agreement with China
- Private oil survey data shows a headline build in crude oil inventory
- Japan lifting its COVID-19 state of emergency at the end of May not feasible
- US stocks close near session lows.
There were further declines for cryptocurrencies during the session here with Bitcoin on the slide to under $41K. Musk got the ball rolling on the slide last week with his 'not accepting BTC as payment' tweet and he has been more or less relentless since then (ForexLive has been posting updates on his remarks).
As I post:
- BTC circa 40,448
- DOGE 0.42418
- ETH 3,089
Regional equities have been on the sad side also following the drop on Wall Street Tuesday. Europe is not looking good coming up.
In the FX space we have seen a subdued session with NZD, CAD, AUD, GBP, yen, CHF all down against the dollar (ranges are not large) with EUR/USD more or less unchanged.
Data of note included that for Australian wages in Q1 this year, a slight beat and analysts have taken some encouragement from the slightly better figures. Bear in mind though that there has been volatility introduced into this data set as the economy emerges from, and occasionally slips back into, lockdowns.
News flow was reasonable light, summarised, as always, in the bullets above.
Regional equities:
Japan's Nikkei -1.4%
China's Shanghai Composite -0.38%
Hong Kong's Hang Seng ... closed for a holiday today
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 -1.87%
BTC update:
