Forex news for Asia trading Friday 22 May 2020
- New Zealand discussing 'helicopter money' handouts
- Likely that all 27 EU member states will adopt the new €500 billion EU Fund
- China's Global Times on China not setting a GDP growth target this year
- China Premier Li Keqiang - will move to safeguard national security in Hong Kong
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at 7.0939
- FX option expiries for Friday May 22 at the 10am NY cut
- China's parliament report says it pledge to implement the US trade deal
- China economy targets for 2020
- BOJ statement: maintains short-term interest rate target at JGB yield target
- More on UK to seek an end to reliance on some China imports
- China sets no 2020 GDP target - cites virus impact and global uncertainties
- RBNZ Gov Orr says that if more stimulus is needed he'll use more QE
- Here is another gold bull, not so much for equites
- Japan inflation data for April, headline CPI 0.1% y/y (vs. expected 0.2%)
- US Senate leader McConnell says the next coronavirus economic recovery spending is not too far off
- Fitch affirms Australia rating at 'AAA', changes outlook to negative
- Watch China's parliament for any new Hong Kong security law - this could prompt a US response
- Citi on gold, short term resistance but see $2,000 / oz
- New Zealand Retail sales excl. inflation for Q1: -0.7% q/q (expected -1.5%)
- Canada's banking regulator says banking system is resilient, well-prepared
- China has directed state-owned power plants to purchase domestic coal
- China’s consul-general 'sudden departure' from Australia
- UK Times reports PM Johnson seeking to end reliance on some China imports
- Trump makes it clear that if there is a second wave of coronavirus in the US he will not shutdown the country
- AUD/USD 0.6600 a near term obstacle
- Trade ideas thread - Friday 22 May 2020
Major FX maintained small ranges only here during the Asian session
today with small moves in the USD broadly. As I update the small
strength in the US dollar is persisting.
The major items of
interest during the session were
- Japan CPI (low, again),
- the BOJ 'emergency' meeting (despite the Japanese April inflation report showing falling headline rate and core inflation slipping negative, the Bank of Japan once again made no changes to monetary stimulus, although they did start a new small business lending program)
- and the sitting of China's annual parliament (National People's Congress, NPC)
China announced it was not setting a GDP target for this year, citing the virus outbreak and heightened uncertainties. Their report did set out other partial economic goals and also remarked on monetary policy. Another piece of information that was keenly awaited (from a political perspective) was what the parliament would be doing about the unrest in Hong Kong (US President Trump had earlier said he'd "react strongly" to China if it pushes ahead with its plans to impose a new security law on HK. While the NPC confirmed that it does plan to pass a bill establishing "an enforcement mechanism for ensuring national security" for Hong Kong there were no no details provided. The mere mention that the NPC had plans was enough to push HK stocks lower on the session (the Hang Seng index is down circa 3.5% as I write this).
As mentioned, ranges were subdued. EUR, GBP, AUD, NZD, CAD all fell against the USD. USD/JPY popped early in the session to above 107.75 briefly but has since fallen away 20 or so points. Oil fell, WTI and Brent both down around a dollar.
Fitch affirmed Australia's rating at AAA but set the outlook to negative from its previous stable.
