The US dollar added to its gains from Monday here during Tuesday trade:

  • AUD/USD to a 5 month low
  • EUR/USD to a 5 month low
  • GBP/USD to a 5 month low
  • NZD/USD is at its lowest since November
  • JPY is, of course, still around 34 year lows

Mary Daly, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President, spoke at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. In brief, Daly said there is no urgency to cut US interest rates, with the economy and labour market strong, and inflation still above the Fed's 2% target. She warned on the dangers of a near term rate cut:

  • "The worst thing to do is act urgently when urgency is not required".

The People’s Bank of China set its USD/CNY reference rate (the mid-point at which the onshore yuan is permitted to trade) at its weakest (for CNY) since March 1. The weakness in the yuan that followed prompted intervention to support the yuan, conducted through Chinese State Banks selling USD/CNY.

From China today we had Q1 economic growth data and also March 2024 economic activity data:

  • GDP growth beat expectations at 5.3% y/y (vs. expected +5.0%) and +1.6% q/q (expected 1.4%)
  • Industrial production and retail sales missed estimates, but the unemployment rate dropped by a tenth of a percent (see bullets above for the data on these and more).

USD/CNH jumped on the weaker yuan setting but dropped as USD/CNY was hit with USD selling intervention:

usdcnh wrap chart 16 April 2024 2

Regional equities fell heavily.