Forex news for Asia trading on Thursday 20 May 2021
- Japan to end its 1% GDP cap on defence spending - "must increase our defense capabilities at a radically different pace"
- S&P ratings says NZ is recovering faster than most advanced economies
- US COVID-19 vaccine maker Novavax plans to make doses in Australia
- NZ budget says expects lower unemployment rate ahead
- Is the Australian jobs created miss a blip? Momentum in the economy is considerable.
- AUD/USD up just a few ticks following the April jobs report
- China Loan Prime Rate 1 year @ 3.85% (expected 3.85%) and 5 year @ 4.65% (expected 4.65%)
- Australian employment report, jobs -30.6K in April, unemployment 5.5%
- ICYMI - China State Council says will manage supply and demand to stabilise commodity prices
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at 6.4464 (vs. yesterday at 6.4255)
- Australia consumer inflation expectations rise to 3.5% in May (prior 3.2%)
- Key Senate Republicans open to IRS boosting tax take to fund infrastructure
- Japan set to extend State of Emergency to another prefecture
- Reports of up US$8.6bn in crypto liquidated in the past 24 hours
- Reuters report that Ford Motor, SK Innovation to announce EV battery joint venture
- Japan Core Machinery Orders for March +3.7% m/m (expected 5.0%)
- Japan trade balance for April Y 255.3bn (expected Y 147.7bn)
- China blocks another Australian export - Australia's Trade minister seeking answers
- Japan is likely to approve AsraZeneca, Moderna COVID-19 vaccines
- Japan May Tankan report: Both manufacturing and non-manufacturing indexes rise
- US blocked a shipment of clothing from entering on forced labour suspicion in China
- Recap of the FOMC minutes and the surprise element they contained
- US Sec State Blinken and Russian For Min Lavrov speaking
- US places new sanctions on Russian Nord Stream firms
- "Powell to talk taper at Jackson Hole" analyst notes getting trotted out again
- Trade ideas thread - Thursday 20 May 2021
- ECB Schnabel says Bank sees no reason to hike rates
- Oil - reports that talks to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal have made significant progress
- UK to extend its vaccination program to all over 18 next month
Gyrations for crypto continued after the huge moves seen on Thursday, with BTC (for example) pulling back from its >$40K bounce high to $35K. Sources say more than 770,000 traders had their accounts liquidated in the plunge (equating to a value of around $8.6bn) which has thinned out trading in digital coins, widened spreads, and should ensure continued swings for the immediate future (see bullets above for the liquidation story).
Movement across major FX pairs was, of course, much more muted with a relatively flat session of minor swings only. The coronavirus situation in Japan is steadily worsening with news of another prefecture likely so see a State of Emergency declaration. New Zealand released their budget, with encouraging signs the economy is recovering more quickly from the impact of the pandemic than expected. As a surprise, though, debt issuance by the country was announced as not to fall as much as was widely expected.
On the data front the Australian labour market report for February showed disappointment as the number of jobs declined, but a drop in the unemployment rate (the participation rate fell sharply from a record high the previous month) was some comfort (see bullets above).
Gold is just a touch stronger on the session. Commodities in China markets fell heavily as news of China government intervention to stabilise prices spread.
