ForexLive Asia-Pacific FX news wrap: USD/JPY swings again on BoJ comments

• US firms optimism in China has fallen to its lowest level ever
• JPMorgan still expects a 50bp Federal Reserve interest rate cut next week
• Japan wholesale inflation dipped due to lower commodity prices and a stronger yen – recap
• 250bp of “shock and awe” rate cuts from the US Federal Reserve does not seem warranted
• Australia inflation expectations are slowly, slowly chipping lower, still way above target
• PBOC sets USD/ CNY mid-point today at 7.1214 (vs. estimate at 7.1219)
• BOJ’s Tamura says expects a gradual path for interest rate hikes
• Citi moves underweight equities
• Former Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Fraser says the RBA should cut its cash rate
• Japan Business Survey Index for Q3 2024 4.5% (prior -1.0%)
• Japan PPI (August) -0.2% m/m (expected +0.0%) and +2.5% y/y (expected +2.8%)
• UK pay awards drop to lowest level in two years
• Housing market in UK shows signs of recovery – RICS house price best since January 2020
• Reuters Japan Corporate Survey – firms wary of 50bp interest rate rise
• New Zealand retail sales data (August) +0.2% m/m and -2.9% y/y
• New Zealand data – Food Price Index (August) +0.2% m/m (prior +0.4%)
• Atlanta Fed President Bostic violated Federal Reserve trading rules
• North Korea fires ballistic missile toward East Sea (Sea of Japan)
• Chinese car industry is still struggling, car sales -5% y/y in August (prior -5.2%)
• Nomura forecasts a 25bp cut by the European Central Bank today, Thursday, September 12
• Citi are forecasting two 50bp interest rate cuts from the US Federal Reserve
• Forexlive Americas FX news wrap 11 Sep: US CPI data is mixed with core rising
• ICYMI – Goldman Sachs CEO Solomon said still a chance the Federal Reserve cut by 50bp
• Trade ideas thread – Thursday, 12 September, insightful charts, technical analysis, ideas

Bank
of Japan policy board member Naoki Tamura spoke
today, delivering a hawkish (for the BoJ) outlook. Tamura said
Japan’s neutral rate is likely to be around 1% at the minimum but
softened that by saying the path there would be a long one. There
is more in the linked post above.

USD/JPY
dropped from highs above 142.90 to under 142.25 (briefly). As I
update its sitting just below 142.50.

Also
from Japan today were data for August PPI. These showed lower
inflation pressures (see bullets above), slowing for the first time in eight months.

News
flow was very light otherwise while the data calendar held lower tier
releases only.

EUR/USD
tracked sideways ahead of today’s European Central Bank
meeting. There is a preview above.

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at www.forexlive.com.