Major
FX moved in small ranges during the timezone here today. The focus is
on getting the US non-farm payroll report out of the way, its due at
1230 GMT and there are previews in the points above.
-
This
snapshot from the ForexLive economic data calendar, access
it here. -
The
times in the left-most column are GMT. -
The
numbers in the right-most column are the ‘prior’ (previous
month/quarter as the case may be) result. The number in the column
next to that, where is a number, is the consensus median expected.
—
USD/JPY
dipped briefly under 140 but soon found a bid again. This came
despite multiple officials in Japan weighing in with statements
seeking to support the yen (again, in the points above). Traders just
shrugged these off.
Early
in the Asia morning we had reports out of Iran that they had sent in
what they said were constructive proposals to finalise the nuclear
deal talks. Later in the session we had the US State Department saying
no, the proposals were not constructive. Oil has net risen on the
session a little.
The
People’s Bank of China set the reference rate for USD/CNY well
below the estimate again today (i.e. set the CNY stronger than
estimated). China is sweating on the risk of great capital outflow
from the country as they lower rates to deal with the numerous
headwinds for the economy:
- rolling
COVID outbreaks and associated shutdowns - a
deeply, deeply distressed property sector - power
shortages in key industrial hubs
In
response China’s FX regulator the State
Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) issued soothing words on
stable FX flows. These were accompanied by smooth-talking from the
PBoC also, the usual ‘provide ample liquidity’, ‘no
flood-like’ stimulus. More in the points above.