- Bank of England's Hall speaks on Tuesday, 20 June 2023 - not on monetary policy
- Japan's Industry Minister says FX stability is important
- AUD/USD lower after China rate cuts, RBA minutes
- RBA June minutes: Wage rises higher than expected
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY central rate at 7.1596 (vs. estimate at 7.1630)
- PBOC Loan Prime Rates (LPR) CUT: 1-year 3.55% (prior 3.65%) & 5 year 4.20% (prior 4.30%)
- Japan finance minister Suzuki says FX stability is important
- PBOC is expected to set the USD/CNY reference rate at 7.1630 – Reuters estimate
- USD/JPY above 142.00, highest since November 2022
- Oil - Tropical Storm Bret to strengthen to Hurricane just outside of US Gulf
- Australian state NSW is on the verge of losing its long-held AAA credit rating
- Australian weekly consumer confidence survey slides lower again, to 72.4 (prior 72.7)
- New Zealand Treasury say domestic demand is being dampened by high interest rates
- ECB's Kazimir says a July rate hike is on, but will need fresh analysis for September
- ECB's Simkus spoke Monday - says a July rate hike is on, not sure on September
- ICYMI - ECB's de Guindos said core inflation slowdown faces limitations
- New Zealand data - Q2 consumer confidence 83.1 (vs. prior 77.7)
- US President Biden says US-China relations are on the right trail
- US used vehicle prices continued to fall in the first half of June
- Trade ideas thread - Tuesday, 20 June 2023
- Forexlive Americas FX news wrap: Homebuilder sentiment climbs with US off for holiday
The People’s Bank of China cut its 1- and 5-year Loan Prime Rates today by 10 bp each. It's the first LPR cut in 10 months. Rates are now:
- 1-year 3.55% (from 3.65%)
- 5-year 4.2% (from 4.3%)
The cuts were expected and followed 3 cuts to separate policy rates last week. In addition, the Bank set a weaker CNY rate at the daily reference rate fixing. Offshore yuan, CNH, slid lower on the session.
From the Reserve Bank of Australia today we had the minutes of the June meeting. In these the Bank indicated its rate hike was a close call. The Bank discussed wage developments, noting higher-than-expected wage gains. Given the strong labour market data last week a rate hike in July looks like it’ll happen, but again it’ll be a close call. Note that while reference to further rate increases were dropped in the minutes, Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Lowe did mention this in a speech he gave the day following the June rate hike.
RBA Deputy Governor Bullock is speaking at 0430 GMT/0030 US Eastern time/2.30pm Sydney time. Any comments she has on her policy outlook will be keenly pored over for further clues.
AUD/USD has dropped after the China and Minutes news.
USD/JPY swung around during the session, The initial move was higher, getting above 142.20 briefly. Some jawboning from the finance and industry ministers prompted the rate to fall back towards 141.60.
Asian equity markets:
Japan’s Nikkei 225 -0.6%
China’s Shanghai Composite -0.4%
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng -1.3%
South Korea’s KOSPI -0.3%
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 +0.5%
AUD/JPY got hit by a falling AUD/USD and then USD/JPY giving back its earlier pop:
