Forex News
TEXT OF FOMC STATEMENT
Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in March suggests that the economy has been expanding moderately. Labor market conditions have improved in recent months; the unemployment rate has declined but remains elevated.
FOMC ready to dance with market expectations
The USD was even having a hard time holding onto gains against sterling today, which weakened on a very negative GDP report for Q1. Has the market appropriately priced in the FOMC risks here?
High AUD takes its toll on Oz terms of trade
The end of the week and currencies barely changed from the kick-off on Monday was enough of an incentive for Asia to kick its heels today. Data releases were minor and currencies stuck to tight ranges.
Another China easing rumour supports risk in Asia
At the start of the Asian session we heard more rumours about an imminent China easing, which set risk off on a solid footing for the session. The China chatter came from a Xinhua news agency piece “announcing” (according to an un-named central bank official) that the central bank was to increase reverse repo operations […]
China rate cut rumours circulate in Asia, raising risk appetite
Another session of consolidation for currencies during the Asian session with data releases second-tier. Just prior to the lunch break, rumours circulated of an imminent China rate cut which saw both the Shanghai Composite and risk in general better bid.
RBA minutes show wait for inflation data before any rate cut
Today’s highlight for the Asian session was the release of the minutes of the April RBA meeting, where we gained further insight into the central bank latest ideas regarding the economy and interest rate policy.
Muted market reaction to China’s Yuan band widening
Today’s Asian session was a rather muted affair, despite a couple of weekend announcements from the People’s Bank of China. They announced a widening of its daily Yuan trading band to 1 percent in either direction from the fix, up from the existing 0.5 percent with intended aim according to the PBOC to “meet market […]
China GDP numbers disappoint, sending risk into reverse
The Chinese economy grew at a slower pace in the first quarter of this year, growing 8.1 percent y/y, its slowest pace of expansion in almost 3 years. The growth rate was below the consensus of +8.4 percent and much lower than Q4’s 9.2 percent rate, and also was far off the 9 percent-plus rumour […]
AUD surges after a very strong Oz employment report
Australia released quite an astounding employment report in the Asian trading day, setting the tone for a better sentiment towards risk which prevailed for the rest of the session. Australia added some 44.0k jobs in March, beating the consensus median estimates of +6.5k by a large margin, well above even the most optimistic forecasts in […]
Consolidation in Asia but risk sellers primed for any rebound
We saw a slight lull in the risk-off trade during today’s Asian session, but any rebound lacked momentum and depth, and there was a sense of willing sellers into any risk currency rally.
AUD suffers as China reports lower imports in March
Asia got busy after the long Easter weekend with a number of key data releases – and there were some surprises! China’s trade data for March astounded with a hefty surplus of $5.35 bln reported versus expectations of another deficit following the $31.48 bln printed in February.
Good Friday = Good Payrolls?
The only real news from the Asian session was talk of a possible China Reserve Ratio Requirement cut over the weekend. This stems from the latest PBOC’s Q1 monetary policy pronouncement (released last weekend but only picked up recently due to the holidays) which called for an “appropriate increase” in money and credit compared with […]