- Japan deputy chief cabinet secretary says FX stability is important
- Shanghai official says COVID-19 outbreak in the city has shown a downtrend in recent days
- A little more on the Bank of Japan intervention in the JGB market today
- AUD/USD losing some bids as the PBOC does not cut rates, sets CNY weaker than expected
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY mid-point today at 6.3996 (vs. estimate at 6.3853)
- People's Bank of China loan prime rates (LPR) setting for April 2022: rates unchanged
- BOJ intervention in the bond market
- Australia data - Westpac-Melbourne Institute Leading Index 0.4% m/m (prior -0.2%)
- TD Securities on support for gold
- Fed's Kashkari says the Fed's job may get more difficult, may need to do more on inflation
- Intervention by the Bank of Japan looks likely today
- Japan March trade data: Exports +1.7% m/m while Imports -0.5% m/m
- ANZ Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence weekly survey: 96.8 (prior 94.6)
- Goldman Sachs says the probability of USD/JPY intervention has increased significantly.
- Goldman Sachs says it expects US core inflation to drop to 4% by year end
- Reuters poll shows the PBOC is likely to lower benchmark lending rates (LPR) today
- More on the next round of military assistance Biden will send to Ukraine
- IMF says there is space for more Chinese monetary and fiscal support for economy
- RBNZ Gov. Orr spoke Tuesday - his "messaging was arguably more balanced"
- Biden to announce another large military aid package for Ukraine
- Trade ideas thread - Wednesday 20 April 2022
- Oil - private data shows a large draw in headline crude inventory
- US major indices close solidly higher on the day
Once again it was mainly about yen across major FX today. USD/JPY popped above 129.00 in very early Asia trade before topping out on the session around 129.40. The Bank of Japan intervened in the JGB market again today (they had done so in late March) to buy an unlimited amount of 10 year Japanese Government Bonds. The yield on these had hit 0.25% early in the Japan morning. This rate is the top of the BOJ band for the 10yr yield and thus the Bank entered the market.
USD/JPY dipped only momentarily on the BOJ announcement of its operation. USD/JPY has since dropped back under 128.80 (as I update). There has been some verbal intervention (see bullets above) from a Japanese government spokesperson (the Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary).
The People’s Bank of China left key interest rates unchanged today in the face of expectations of a rate cut from a majority of market analysts. The one-year loan prime rate (LPR) was held at 3.70% while the five-year remained at 4.60%.
The PBOC did set the CNY reference rate much weaker than expected, though, the lowest for CNY against the USD since the second week of November last year.
The actions from the PBOC saw AUD/USD drop to around 0.7375 (from earlier highs just over 0.7400) but this was short-lived and as I post AUD/USD has made a fresh session high above 0.7410.
Elsewhere EUR, GBP, NZD and CAD have all added points against the USD to varying extents.
