Forex and Bitcoin news for Asia trading Wednesday 5 December 2018

Further headline flow today on the China-US (Xi-Trump) weekend meal deal in Buenos Aires. A statement from China's Commerce Ministry was very positive (see bullets above). This was soon followed by a tweet from US President Trump that, between the lines at least, seemed to be positive also (we will get a deal, if not now, later).

Do, though, take note of comments (again, bullets above) from Chair of Foxconn - sees a 5 to 10-year China / US trade war.

There was data flow also today, mainly lower-tier releases, but we did get the awaited Australian GDP result (for Q3), and it was a big miss on estimates that had been lowered in recent days. Long story short is a result half of what was expected and driven by government spending. More above, both in the data post and in the 'responses' post. The Australian dollar was marked down on the data announcement and has not managed much recovery.

NZD/USD fell alongside the AUD, though not to the same extent. Both of these two have fallen further as I post.

Elsewhere it was a story of continued USD strength (after overnight moves that was in the US) to varying extents. USD/CHF and USD/yen clocked 15+ and 30+ point gains. Cable was a touch lower only, as was EUR/USD/ USD/CAD has added on pints too, CAD with a lower oil price headwind to contend with also.

Still to come:

Remember folks its a US holiday today as a mark of respect to former President George H. W. Bush. This will thin out forex markets in the US, lighter volumes and greater spreads will be the result.