Asia Summary and Highlights 3 Nov
Trump says U.S. will block China from getting Nvidia’s most advanced chips
Trump says not considering giving Ukraine Tomahawk missiles
Asia Session
Over the weekend, we have remarks from Trump that U.S. will block China from getting Nvidia’s most advanced Blackwell chips. On the geopolitical front, he also says he is not considering giving Ukraine Tomahawk missiles while does not sound upbeat about a soon peace agreement with Russia. USD is trading broadly higher on Monday with risk pretty upbeat. USD/JPY is trading 0.08% higher at 154.12.
The Australia private inflation indicator rises to 3.1% y/y in October, suggesting momentum in CPI did not slow after Q3. Such persistent inflationary pressure will lower market participants' anticipation of another cut from the RBA in 2025. The AUD/USD is trading 0.18% higher at 0.6556, NZD/USD is trading 0.08% higher while USD/CAD is unchanged. Over the weekend, OPEC+ decided to pause output hike in Q1 2026, supporting oil prices. Else, EUR/USD is up 0.01% and GBP/USD is down 0.05%.
North American session
The EUR slipped in North America, EUR/USD to 1.1525 from 1.1570, EUR/GBP to .8775 from .8815 and EUR/CHF to .9275 from .9290. GBP/USD found a base near 1.31 and recovered to 1.3140 but USD/CHF was slightly firmer above .8140. There was not much change in USD/JPY, which edged only marginally below 154, or AUD/USD which remained near .6540.
August Canadian GDP was significantly weaker than expectations at -0.3% , which lifted USD/CAD to above 1.4030 but a return below 1.4020 followed with BoC still seen unlikely to ease again near term. Several Fed officials sounded hawkish, Schmid explaining his recent hawkish dissent while Logan and Hammack, both voters in 2026, stated they also opposed the latest move. Bostic said he backed the latest move but sounded cautious going forward. None of these comments however suggested a significant shift from their previously expressed views.