Asia Summary and Highlights 26 February
Australian January monthly CPI 2.5% y/y
The US House has passed the Republican Budget plan
China not happy with Canada, citing disrupt international trade rules, harm global supply chain
Asia Session
The Australian January monthly CPI has come in lower than estimate at 2.5% y/y, staying within the target range of RBA. After the first hawkish cut, we will need to see more moderation of inflation to envision another cut from the RBA and this data is what doves like to see. AUD/USD is down 0.25% at 0.6328, NZD/USD is also down 0.24% at 0.5711 while USD/CAD rose 0.09%.
The USD is trading broadly higher on Wednesday with Trump scoring another on The House passing the Republican Budget. On the other hand, we have China's remark on Canadian's unilateral trade sanctions which seems to be putting Canada between a rock and a hard place. USD/JPY is trading 0.36% higher at 149.56 as the U.S. Treasury Yields outperform their JGB counterpart. else, EUR/USD is down 0.18% and GBP/USD is down 0.22%.
North American session
Growing worries about emerging weakness in the US economy were fuelled by a weaker February consumer confidence report, falling to 98.3 from 105.3, and this saw the USD mostly weaker, in a move that was underway even before the release. EUR/USD moved above 1.05 from 1.0475 while USD/JPY slipped as low as 148.57 from 149.75 before correcting to near 149. GBP/USD mirrored EUR/USD.
An exception to the weaker USD picture was a rise in USD/CAD to highs above 1.43 from 1.4250 as tariff worries persisted. AUD/USD had less direction, but moved off European lows.