Forex News
No further stimulus from BOJ; USDJPY edges lower
Asia’s focus was on the Bank of Japan today, awaiting its announcement after a two-day meeting. After an unusual delay, the BOJ announced no change in interest rates, holding then steady at 0.1 percent (what else can they do?) while there were no new easing steps announced.
Risk buoyed again by softer China CPI, hope for a strong PSI deal
China reported February’s inflation data this morning and CPI showed a sharp drop to 3.2% y/y from 4.5% the previous month, beating positive consensus estimates of 3.4%. Food prices fell 0.3% m/m after the Lunar New Year celebrations were completed.
Worse headline Oz employment data pushes AUD lower, initially
The first of today’s central bank rate announcements came early in the Asian session, where the RBNZ kept the official cash rate unchanged at 2.5 percent, as expected. However, in his post-announcement comments, RBNZ governor Bollard highlighted improved pockets in the domestic economy and a better global outlook but noted that the recent strength of […]
RBA Keeps Rates Unchanged At 4.25%
Australia’s central bank kept interest rates steady on Tuesday as fears linked to the outlook for the world economy eased a few notches through February. The cash rate target was held at 4.25% as expected by most economists. The cash rate was cut twice in the concluding months of 2011.
FX Daily Strategist: Europe
Big LTRO elicits little excitement; FX market reacts more to little from Bernanke The EUR 529bn allocated at yesterday’s second 3-year LTRO was a little higher than our estimates of 400-500bn, and not significantly greater than market expectations of 470/500bn.
FX Daily Strategist: Europe
No oil price worries in evidence Friday The S&P500 made its highest close since June 5, 2008 on Friday, while in G10 FX, SEK, representing the country most exposed to the global growth cycle, was the strongest performer on the day and second biggest gainer on the week versus the USD (+2.65%, just pipped by […]
FX Daily Strategist: Europe
We continue to favour AUD into next week; JPY moving closer to the top of the Ichimoku cloud AUD remained steady in response to RBA Govnenor Steven’s warning that forex intervention is an option if the AUD is considered too strong, commenting that the recent rise in AUD’s strength has been at a time when […]
UniCredit EEMEA Daily
News CEE: Neutral – EC cuts 2012 GDP forecasts for the region, Poland remains clear outperformer (p1) BG: Neutral – Dec gross external debt down 0.8% mom (p2) PL: Positive – Jan retail sales rose by 14.3% yoy (p2) RO: Mixed – Jan banking deposits grow 0.4% mom / Govt. sells RON 122mn 15Y T-Bonds […]
UniCredit EEMEA Daily
News HU: Negative – EC recommends suspension of cohesion funds as of 2013 (p1)
FX Daily Strategist: Europe
Greek deal leaves markets none the wiser The response to yesterday’s Greek bailout has seemingly confounded most market participants: those looking for a relief rally in risk have been sorely disappointed – but so have those who were looking for a ‘sell the fact’ response.
UniCredit EEMEA Daily
News CZ: Positive – Czech Republic sells EUR2bn Eurbond at 160bp spread above mid swaps RO: Positive – MinFin sold RON 2.5bn 2Y T-bonds: avg. yield 6.36%, bid/cover 1.1
FX Daily Strategist: Europe
Expectations build for a deal – but we’ve been here before The Eurozone developments over the weekend have raised expectations of a deal from today’s Eurogroup, due to kick off at 3.30pm Brussels time. German Finance Minister Schaeuble’s comments were seen as less combative;