Forex news for Asia trading Friday 27 March 2020
- Australian PM Morrison says government is preparing a 3rd tranche of economic aid
- More strong USD forecasts - projections for CAD, GDP
- NZ finmin Robertson says wage subsidy could cost as much as NZD 12bn
- Some chatter about the House may not vote on the US coronavirus relief bill on Friday
- US President Trump TV interview is over (says 'no way' Republican convention will be cancelled)
- Trump says he thinks there are certain parts of the country that can be reopened, including the farm belt
- China Industrial Profits YTD for February has fallen the most on record
- The Xi - Trump phone call has been rescheduled to 0230GMT
- South Korea reports 91 more cases of coronavirus, total now 9,332
- Upcoming rounds of UK-EU talks on post-Brexit relations have been abandoned
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at 7.0427 (vs. yesterday at 7.0692 )
- FX option expiries for Friday March 27 at the 10am NY cut
- The US House timetable for voting on the coronavirus economic relief bill will begin with 2 hours of debate
- Japan Eco Min Nishimura says there is no need to declare a state of emergency
- 55 new COVID19 cases reported in Chinese mainland as of Thursday
- US' Fauci: The coronavirus pandemic ‘is not, as it were, under control’
- US Administration back tracks on its plans to send troops to the Canadian border
- Japan - Tokyo inflation data for March, headline CPI is 0.4% y/y (vs. excepted 0.3%)
- Updated NZD forecasts via ASB (and sees big drop for GDP)
- ANZ forecast a huge drop for NZ Q2 GDP and a big jump for unemployment
- US moving ahead with new restrictions on Chinese telecom maker Huawei
- Neil Ferguson denies U-turn, coronavirus "lethality estimates remain unchanged"
- The next US coronavirus hotspots to watch
- JP Morgan on the US: "We continue to believe that a recession has begun in March"
- Dutch PM Rutte says we could not agree with other EU leaders on details of ESM support or other instruments
- German Chancellor Merkel: Impact of coronavirus likely to be bigger than financial crisis
- 3 reasons why USD/JPY is heading back down to 105
- New Zealand ANZ Consumer Confidence Index (March): 106.3 (prior 122.1)
- Johns Hopkins University says the confirmed number of Covid19 cases in the US has passed China
- BoA say EUR/USD to turn back down, forecast to 1.02 in Q3
- Trade ideas thread - Friday 27 March 2020
- Fitch sees US GDP down 3% in 2020, affirms US rating with stable outlook
- US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin pours cold water on the idea of closing markets
It was a session where the USD lost ground, notably against the yen with USD/JPY losing 100+ points on the session. Other currencies found a bid against the USA dollar also, South Korea's won is +2% with other EM Asia currencies gaining also.
For the majors we had moves beyond overnight highs for cable, EUR, AUD, and NZD/USD. CAD, too, up against the dollar.
News and data flow was light, nothing fresh of market-moving significance. As I post we are awaiting a readout of a phone call between China's Xi and the US' Trump.
Also on the agenda ahead is the US House of Representative to vote on the coronavirus economic relief package. Debate is scheduled to begin at 9am Washington time and a vote is expected some time on Friday. Do note, though, that there is some chatter about that the vote may be delayed until Saturday. For the political-folks, a delay to the vote would occur if a member of the House objected to a 'voice' vote, in which case members would have to assemble - which is what will add time.