- More yen comments out of Japan
- Australia: Business survey inflation indicators igniting chatter of a May RBA rate hike
- Shanghai has eased its lockdown restrictions for nearly half of the city
- Australian March 2022 Business confidence 16 (prior 13) & Business conditions 18 (prior 9)
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY central rate at 6.3795 (vs. estimate at 6.3752)
- Chinese Communist Party National Congress is expected in November this year (not October)
- BOJ comments on surging wholesale prices - index at its highest since 1982!
- China COVID-19 - No lockdown has yet been announced for Guangzhou ( ... yet)
- US State Dept. orders non-essential US government employees to leave Shanghai
- Japan finance minister Suzuki speaking on excess FX volatility
- Shanghai reports 23,342 new COVID-19 cases for April 11
- Japan PPI data for March 2022: +9.5% y/y (vs. expected 9.3%)
- Australian weekly consumer confidence survey: 94.6 (prior 93.4)
- AEI says the real number of daily COVID-19 cases in China is circa 250,000
- UK data - Barclaycard says Overall card spending +17.7% (2022 vs. 2019) in March
- UK data - BRC Like-for-like retail sales -0.4% y/y in March (prior +2.7%)
- US President Biden will speak on Tuesday - subject matter is inflation
- US Pentagon says cannot confirm Russia's use of chemical weapon in Ukraine city Mariupol
- Goldman Sachs remain bearish on the USD over the medium term
- New Zealand Q1 business confidence -40 (prior -28)
- UK Foreign Minister Truss says Putin use of chemical weapons would be a callous escalation
- Ray Dalio says Russian-Ukrainian war is just the first battle in a long war
- Speculation that Russia may have used chemical weapons in its war on Ukraine
- "Brexit onslaught deepens as a third of all UK exporters to EU simply vanish"
- Trade ideas thread - Tuesday 12 April 2022
- ICYMI - EU scolds OPEC, says the cartel can produce more due to spare capacity
- US stocks nervous as yields move higher, earnings ahead, CPI inflation tomorrow
- Forexlive Americas FX news wrap: Tech stocks and bitcoin sold hard
USD/JPY has tracked mainly sideways during the session. It had a sharp, but brief, drop after comments from Japanese finance minister Suzuki expressing concerns over "FX volatility" (this is code for a rapid drop in the yen, see the bullets above for an explanation if you need – TLDR version is the comments were intended to be yen supportive).
AUD and NZD traded higher. Data from New Zealand (business confidence dropped in Q1 after a drop in Q4 last year) weighed early. Data then from Australia, surging business conditions in March, alongside improved business confidence, included inflation indicators. Inflation indicators were, of course, stronger also. This graph via Goldman Sachs:
The solid inflation indicators fuelled market chatter of a Reserve Bank of Australia rate hike as soon as May, helping AUD along and NZD in turn too (the Reserve Bank of New Zealand policy decision is tomorrow, NZ time).
Oil ticked higher – tight supply and possible sanctions on Russian product were cited.
In China, the new coronavirus case count from Shanghai dropped a little from the previous day’s reading. There has also been a move from authorities in the city to trim back some of the restrictions on residents. Some positive news at the margin.
The US 10yr hits its highest yield since 2018.
