- 3 scenarios for US equities(S&P 500)
- Oil - Black Sea oil export terminal - up to 1 mn bbls/day offline
- Japan says 3 northern nuclear reactors will be back online in April or May
- China - more on the lockdown of major steel-hub Tangshan City
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at 6.3558 (vs. estimate at 6.3522)
- ICYMI - Ukraine President Zelensky is invited to address the NATO summit via video link
- US Senators will discuss freezing Russia's gold with US Treas Sec Yellen
- China - another city goes into lockdown. Also, China press says room for more rate cuts.
- ICYMI - Oil - Chevron says it can help double Venezuela’s 800K bbl/day production
- Japan media report that PM Kishida will likely order another round of fiscal stimulus
- New Zealand to further loosen COVID-19 restrictions from
- Biden Administration preparing sanctions on more than 300 members of Russia's parliament
- Ukraine President Zelensky says talks with Russia are difficult, at times confrontational
- More from Fed's Mester - says think will need a 50bp hike at some meetings
- The US have removed tariffs on UK steel, aluminium
- Ukraine official is hopeful of a phone call between Zelensky and China's President Xi
- Fed's Mester says front loading FOMC rate hikes is appealing
- Trade ideas thread - Wednesday 23 March 2022
- Private oil survey data shows headline draw in crude oil inventory
- Updated NZD/USD forecast (to 0.7100)
- Fund manager Icahn says he believes oil prices have peaked
- Major indices close with solid gains and near highs.
The lead in to the Asia session:
Forexlive Americas FX news wrap: Yen sinks and risk trades pop
During the US session we had comments from various Federal Reserve officials, all tilting more hawkish/less dovish.
That continued in the Asian morning with Loretta Mester, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank Cleveland branch, speaking on her economic and monetary policy outlook. Mester said that according to her forecasts she think s the Fed will need to hike in 50bp increments at some meetings. Note the plural there, ‘meetings’.
F resh news and data flow otherwise was basically zero.
USD/JPY was a mover early, during pre-Tokyo and into the early morning there. USD/JPY popped above 121.00, trading to touch circa 121.40 before dropping back towards the figure again.
Elsewhere, EUR/USD traced out a just under 40 point range, topping above 1.1040 and dropping back since to above 1.1020. AUD/USD and NZD/USD followed similar patterns and both maintained range trade also. cable is up a little.
Oil moved higher during the session, helping drag USD/CAD back to its overnight low.
Following on from the rally on US stocks Tuesday regional equities here mainly performed strongly. As I post:
- Japan’s Nikkei 225 is +2.75%
- HK’s Hang Seng +1.5%
- Shanghai Composite is barely positive
USD/JPY:
