Forex and Bitcoin news for Asia trading Wednesday 22 August 2018
- RBA Dep Gov Debelle has no direct comment on the AUD
- EX-BOJ Ishida warns BOJ could reduce stimulus before hitting inflation target
- US to announce handshake Mexico Nafta deal Thursday reports Politico
- Trump: We are going to put a 25% tariff on every car from the European Union
- Moody's say China economic growth likely slow to 6.6% in 2018 from 6.9% in 2017
- Australia Construction work done in Q2: +1.6% q/q (vs. expected +0.8%)
- More on the Australian leading index posted earlier - "solid rebound"
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at 6.8271 (vs. yesterday at 6.8360)
- Here's what it'd take for Trump to intervene in the FX market
- NZ retail sales data for Q2 a strong beat
- Trade ideas thread - Wednesday 22 August 2018
- OIL - private inventory data shows US crude stocks larger than expected draw
US politics:
- Recap of the US political news earlier: "Two Trump lieutenants found guilty"
- Cohen's lawyer says Cohen testified that Trump directed him to commit a crime
- Cohen says he violated campaign finance law at direction of candidate
- Manafort found guilty on 8 counts, including tax fraud
Venezuela:
- Venezuela earthquake - the tsunami alerts have been withdrawn
- Magnitude 6.7 quake hits northern Venezuela coast
A round trip for USD/JPY during Asia today.
It dropped late US time on news of convictions for two Trump associates (see bullets above). The fall stopped around 110.20-odd but there was a small extension into the Tokyo moring to sub 110.10 before it gained back all its losses to highs of the session above 110.40 as I update
USD/CHF has followed a similar pattern but in a much smaller range.
EUR/USD has done pretty much nothing, cable ditto.
There was news crossing during the session that the Us and Mexico will reach a 'handshake' Nafta deal, due t be announced Thursday. MXN and CAD both gained against the USD on this. Treat the news with some care, there were hedges abounding. More in the bullet on the story above.
Data from New Zealand in the morning showed a surprisingly strong result for Q2 retails sales, the NZD popped 0.6700 and has maintained above there, without progressing higher, since.
AUD data followed later, and that showed a solid beat for construction work (and augurs well, at this stage anyway, for Q2 GDP due September 5). AUD had been soft leading up to the data (AUD/NZD sellers notable) and its hardly bounced on the good result. AUD/USD is net a few points lower on the session.
The PBOC revalued the CNY again today, taking it to 4 days in a row of gains.
Late NY oil inventory data showed a larger than expected draw, giving the black stuff a bit of a price boost.
Still to come:
