Forex news for Asia trading Thursday 5 March 2020
- Coronavirus - Osaka University professor says it's possible to mass-produce vaccines in short period of time
- Westpac FOMC forecast: 0.25% rate cuts in March, April, and June.
- China plans to approve of a massive new iron ore mine
- BOJ March meeting - likely to downgrade its economic assessment due coronavirus
- OPEC+ meetings get underway in Vienna Thursday 5 March 2020 - how big will the cut be?
- ICYMI (back in 2009) - fiscal boost from the Australian government during the GFC
- Japan's Olympic minister says plans proceeding, but final decision is with the IOC
- Coronavirus - Australia has extended travel bans on China and Iran, adds South Korea
- China press reports companies falsifying metrics to meet back to work targets
- South Korea updates coronavirus count: 438 new confirmed cases, 3 new deaths
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at 6.9403 (vs. yesterday at 6.9514)
- FX option expiries for Thursday March 5 at the 10am NY cut
- Australia trade balance for January AUD +5.21bn (expected AUD 4.8bn surplus)
- Mainland China new coronavirus cases 139, added deaths 31
- California Governor declares a state of emergency over coronavirus
- Australian Treasury says it is not forecasting a recession for Australia … yet
- Toyota sets March 9 for its Japan factories to return to normal operations
- US President Trump says Congress $8bn coronavirus response package is great news
- China's ambassador to Canada is bullish - economy to bounce back soon
- South Korea's fin min calls for global policy coordination to combat virus
- US Senator (head of fin committee) positive on US-EU trade ties
- Australian fin min says fiscal package to come "very soon"
- Fed's Bullard: Fed has plenty of flexibility
- Coronavirus impact - Huge events being "postponed", moving online in North America
- Australian Treas Sec says coronavirus impact to slice at least 0.5% from GDP
- Goldman Sachs expect another 25bp rate cut from the FOMC on March 18
- US House votes for $8bn for coronavirus response
- Trade ideas thread - Thursday 5 March 2020
- Canada dep PM Freeland says Canada's fiscal position is strong well positioned
Yen gained today and US stocks dropped, a catalyst for moves being California declaring a state of emergency re the COVID-19 outbreak. Further worry was fanned by news about that the US has only conducted circa 500 tests for coronavirus. China initially disregarded the risk and that did not work out so well, if that is the case in the US this is going to get much worse before it gets better. The number of events being cancelled or moved online is growing.
In Australia the PM announced further inbound travel restrictions, extending those already in place on China and Iran, adding South Korea and implementing tighter checks on arrivals from Italy.
Also of note on virus news, Caixin reported firms in areas of China were falsifying data to meet pressure to show people are getting back to work.
Through all this yen was the mover, from highs above 107.70 USD/JPY fell to circa 107.30.
EUR, GBP, CHF, CAD really did not do too much at all. NZD and AUD added a few points but again, not large ranges.
