Forex news for Asia-Pacific trading on February 8, 2021:
- Japan December labor cash earnings -3.2% y/y vs -4.8% expected
- New Zealand Q1 inflation expectations for 2 years 1.89% vs 1.59% prior
- Australia NAB business confidence +10 vs +4 prior
- UK BRC January like-for-like retail sales +7.1% y/y vs +4.8% prior
- Aso: G7 to discuss EM debt, digital taxes and central bank digital currency
- Goldman Sachs bumps up US GDP forecasts, sees taper in early 2022
Markets:
- Bitcoin touches $47,550
- Gold up $11 to $1842
- US 10-year yields down 1.4 bps to 1.156%
- Nikkei up 0.1%
- Brent up 47-cents to $61.03
- NZD leads, USD lags
Tesla's decision to put $1.5B into bitcoin has set off a new speculative frenzy and a one-way rally to $47,550, adding $7000 since Sunday. I don't know if many corporations are going to be running out to buy bitcoin but it doesn't take much to move the needle at the moment with just about every market in the world red hot.
With all the excitement, today's price action in FX looks like a shift away from safe dollars and into better value trades elsewhere. The dollar is sagging substantially in Asia with no exceptions.
Cable kicked off the move as it broke the January highs and hit the best levels since 2018. The euro followed and now the yen is carrying the torch.
Naturally, commodity currencies are strong with Chinese stocks climbing and commodity prices at now cycle highs, including Brent above $61.
