- More on the raid of US firm's Beijing office, 5 Chinese citizens detained
- US conducted airstrikes in Syria against facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran
- Reports that US firm Minz Group Beijing office raided, Chinese staff detained
- ICYMI - ECB's Knot says still think another rate hike will be needed in May
- USD/JPY hit a six week low under 130.28
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at 6.8374 (vs. estimate at 6.8367)
- El Salvadore to propose eliminating all taxes on Tech innovations, and more
- FX option expiries for Friday 24 March at the 10am New York cut
- Japan preliminary March 2023 Manufacturing PMI 48.6 (prior 47.7)
- After the Bank of England rate hike Deutsche Bank on what to watch to trigger another hike
- UK data - March consumer confidence rises to -36 from -38 in February
- ICYMI - US energy secretary Granholm says it could take years to refill oil reserve
- Japan February CPI headline 3.3% y/y (expected 4.1%), Core 3.1% y/y (expected 3.1%)
- ICYMI - Russia's Novak confirmed a shallower cut to oil output than previously indicated
- More on the reported "ECB will probably have to do more in May" comments from Holzmann
- Morgan Stanley says the end is near - forecast one more FOMC rate hike. May and done.
- Australia preliminary March PMI: Manufacturing 48.7 (prior 50.5) Services 48.2 (50.7)
- Heads up - Europe and the UK switch to daylight saving time this coming weekend
- Yellen says confident USD will remain the global reserve currency despite China and Russia
- Forexlive Americas FX news wrap 23 Mar: BOE hikes by 25 basis points to 4.25%
- Goldman Sachs baseline Fed Funds rate forecast is above the Federal Reserve's
- Trade ideas thread - Friday, 24 March 2023
- Fed discount window loans fall in the week, term funding & FDIC bridge loans rose
The data point focus during the Asian session was on February CPI data from Japan. The headline rate fell hard from January:
Headline rate 3.3% y/y
expected 4.1%, prior 4.3%
But both of the core measures were much more ‘sticky’”
CPI ex-Fresh Food 3.1% y/y (this is the 'core' rate)
expected 3.1%, prior 4.2%
CPI ex Food, Energy 3.5% y/y (this is 'core-core' rate, the closest to the US measure of core CPI)
expected 3.4%, prior 3.2%
The Bank of Japan have continued to forecast inflation to fall from around September/October. New Bank of Japan Governor Ueda begins in his role from the second week in April. So far he has not shown much inclination to speed towards tighter policy.
On the session USD/JPY had a shunt lower, from highs above 130.80 to a six week low under 130.30. As I post it has recovered to be mid-range circa 130.50.
Otherwise across the majors board ranges were more subdued and the USD was a touch stronger. CHF, CAD, AUD, EUR, NZD all down against the big dollar.
In other data news Australia’s flash March PMIs slumped into contraction. Japan’s flash March PMIs showed manufacturing remained in contraction (with a slight improvement from February) while services continued their expansion run and the Composite hit its highest in 9 months.
The PBOC set the CNY 300+ points stronger at the reference rate today, confirming CNY’s upmove on Thursday.
In geopolitical news the US conducted air strikes against Iranian facilities in Syria.
Asian equity markets:
Japan’s Nikkei 225 -0.26%
China’s Shanghai Composite -0.65%
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng -0.49%
South Korea’s KOSPI -0.65%
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 -0.26%
