- IMF says Bank of Japan should consider ending its YCC and massive asset purchases now
- RBA Governor Bullock warned on inflation today, market pushed rate hike forecasts later
- Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Lorie Logan speaks Friday
- Biden administration considers import restrictions on Chinese smart cars
- Putin says that Russia hasn’t achieved all its goals in Ukraine yet, won't invade Poland
- ECB's Piero Cipollone speaks on Friday
- Bank of Japan Governor Ueda says chances are high of accommodative conditions to stay
- PBoC sets USD/CNY mid-point at 7.1036 (vs exp. 7.1996)
- Goldman Sachs on the US CPI data (revisions) due Friday
- Senior Japan official tries to water down BOJ's Uchida's comments yesterday
- RBA Bullock: If consumption slows quicker than expected will be opportunity to cut rates
- ANZ are expecting the RBNZ to hike its cash rate in February and in April, to 6%
- Japan finance minister Suzuki says closely watching FX rate moves
- No rate cut expected from the People's Bank of China in February
- RBA Bullock: Recent inflation developments are encouraging, some way to go to meet target
- Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Bullock speaks very soon - live link
- Deutsche Bank Securities looks for S&P 500 to as high as 5500 , says its not about the Fed
- Goldman Sachs report on the struggling Australian dollar amid rising global equities
- Forexlive Americas FX news wrap: Early USD gains erased, SPX touches 5000
- Trade ideas thread - Friday, 9 February, insightful charts, technical analysis, ideas
With Chinese markets closed now for the long Lunar New Year holidays it was over to New Zealand today for some fireworks.
ANZ New Zealand dropped a huge out-of-consensus call into the mix, forecasting a Reserve Bank of New Zealand rate hike at the Bank’s next policy meeting on February 28, and also for another at the following meeting on April 10. The current RBNZ Official Cash Rate (OCR) is 5.5%, the two 25bp rate hikes that ANZ expect would take it to 6%. NZD/USD jumped higher, from around 0.6095 to be sitting close to its session high as I post
From across the ditch (the Tasman Sea that separates New Zealand from Australia) we had Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Bullock speaking in parliament, before the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics. Bullock didn’t add anything different to her comments earlier in the week after the RBA’s first policy meeting of the year. The main message was that while the inflation rate has been coming lower there is still some way to go to meet the midpoint of the central bank's target range of 2-3%. Bullock said that the Bank has not ruled out another rise in interest rates, should that be necessary. She highlighted:
- "while we don’t necessarily need services inflation to be at the midpoint of the 2–3 per cent range to meet our target, we do need it to be quite a bit lower than it currently is."
I think its very safe to say there is no prospect of an imminent cash rate cut from the Bank.
Also speaking in parliament (Japan’s) today was Bank of Japan Governor Ueda. Ueda backed up the comments from his Deputy Uchida on Thursday who said that financial conditions in Japan will remain easy even after the BOJ puts an end to its negative rate policy.
While the New Zealand dollar rose during the session elsewhere for other major-trade FX its was mainly very quiet and tightly range-bound.
