Forex and cryptocurrency news for Asia trading Tuesday 4 June 2019
- NZD - China has unveiled a plan to boost local output of baby formula, reduce reliance on imports.
- Congressional Republicans may block Trump’s planned new tariffs on Mexico
- Australia Retail Sales for April: -0.1% m/m (expected 0.2%)
- Australian BoP data for Q1. net exports as a % of GDP 0.2 % (vs. expected 0.2%)
- Goldman Sachs technical analysis sets (a minimum) target for gold at 1330
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at 6.8822 (vs. yesterday at 6.8896)
- Japan finance minister Aso says again there is no change to sales tax plan
- Bitcoin continues its plunge, collapses under 8000 USD
- Question for ForexLive traders - will the RBA cut today? Anyone want to say no?
- Australia ANZ/Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence: 116.9 (prior week was 118.6)
- UK data shows a big surprise slump in consumer spending in for May
- New Zealand terms of trade for Q1: +1.0% q/q (expected 0.5%)
- US administration says China is misrepresenting trade talks
- A piece from the PBOC website not translated into English gives an insight into their liquidity plans ahead
- Australian government, senior intelligence officials have urged UK to ban Huawei
- China press: US should heed China’s student warning
- JP Morgan looking for two Fed rate cuts, but wary of shorting the US dollar
- Trade ideas thread - Tuesday 4 June 2019
- Where to for the AUD on the RBA announcement (rate cut expected) today?
Crypto was a mover today, lower, with bitcoin dropping 700-odd US dollars at one stage. From trading around 8500 USD it got hit heavily down to under 7800 before staging a bounce to around 8000 USD. Its just under there as I update. There was no obvious catalyst for the move, but trading is thin in the coin so an effort to shift it one way or the other by a 'strong hand' can have such outsize effects.
Forex moves were confined to small ranges. EUR/USD is net up just a few tics on the session, CAD and cable are little changed. USD/JPY is barely changed also but has managed a bit of movement over and under 108 for the session (in a small range).
AUD awaited the RBA announcement, coming soon at 0430GMT. 25 bp point cash rate cut is the near-unanimous expectation, market pricing is 100%. Eyes will be on the statement to see if Governor Lowe signals there are more cuts to come, but the RBA is not famous for boldly stating forward bias in statements accompanying rate moves. Lowe speaks later (0930GMT) so perhaps there will be more to come from him.
We had data from Australia today, info that'll go into tomorrow's GDP repor. Strong exports, capital goods imports on the weak side. Also, monthly retail sales. Its a cliche that retail sales reports in Australia are a disappointment and today's result was another.
NZD dropped back from its overnight highs, reports China is develop a great domestic supply of infant formula weighed on the kiwi.
MXN was a gainer, benefitting from reports there may be Congressional challenge to Trump's latest tariff imposition on the country.
Still to come:
