Forex and Bitcoin news for Asia trading Thursday 6 December 2018
Huawei
- Canada arrests Huawei's chief financial officer for extradition to US
- Chinese embassy demands release of Huawei CFO arrested in Canada
- China press on Huawei: US, Canada have no right to detain a Chinese citizen
Other:
- Brexit - GBP is “purely impossible to trade at this point”
- More from Taiwan's central bank - US economy may peak earlier than expected
- MNI report adviser says PBOC to allow yuan to gain in trade truce
- Reuters poll: GBP to drop nearly 3% if parliament reject Brexit deal
- More from BOJ's Kuroda: Medium, long term inflation expectations are not rising
- Nagato expects Japanese interest rates will not rise for another couple of years
- Moody's on Australia - says outlook for infrastructure sector is stable next year
- Fed's Quarles says financial risks are moderate
- PBOC injects funds into banking system via 1 year MLF
- More on the US military aircraft lost off the coast of Japan
- More from BOJ's Kuroda - explaining BOJ exit strategy now would confuse markets
- Taiwan's central bank governor says US-China war may last 1 to 2 years
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY mid-point today at 6.8599 (vs. yesterday at 6.8476)
- Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda says Japan's economy is expanding moderately
- Australian trade balance data comes in at a miss on estimates
- Australian data, October retail sales in line trade
- Recap of the ES move (sharply lower on Globex reopen, intervention, then bounce)
- Senior Chinese diplomat says that Xi-Trump talks at G20 were friendly and candid
- Reuters Tankan: Index for manufacturing lower in December
- Iran's oil minister is seeking exemption from any oil output cuts by OPEC
- NZD - ICYMI, Fonterra cut their milk price payment forecast
- US Marine F-18 reported crashed into the sea off the coast of Japan
- Trade ideas thread - Thursday 6 December 2018
Huawei CFO Wanzhou Meng, only child of the firm's founder, was arrested in Canada at the request of US authorities. Meng is wanted in the US on suspicion of violating US sanctions against Iran (sold telecommunications equipment to the country). The arrest occurred on December 1 but was only made public (by Canadian media Globe and Mail) late Wednesday Canada time. Markets read this, rightly or wrongly, as indicative of the state of relations between the US and China.
Very soon after China's Foreign Ministry issued warm comments on the results of the Xi-Trump meeting over the weekend. But, the damage was done. US equity futures were smashed lower on the reopening of Globex overnight trade, triggering circuit breaking halts by the exchange (CME). The yen benefitted from inflows on market nerves, while AUD and NZD lost ground (the combination hammered yen crosses).
Further weighing on AUD were data points released, with little good news; retail sales continue to bumble along at low(e) levels, while the trade balance missed estimates (a surplus, but smaller than central expectations). Imports higher, combined with a drop in exports accounting for the smaller surplus.
As the session progressed Huawei developments weighed further, China's embassy in Canada demanded the release of the Meng. Yen crosses continued to remain under pressure.
EUR and GBP were both fairly stable (against the USD, lower against the yen of course), CHF not much different. USD/CAD gained ground.
As I update AUD/USD and NZD/USD are near their session lows. Along with USD/JPY.
Still to come:
