China devalues again

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From Forexlive:

People’s Bank of China (PBOC) sets yuan reference rate 6.4010

  • Prior fix (Wednesday) was at 6.3306
  • Wednesday’s close was 6.3858

Another aggressive devaluation from the PBOC.

That’s another 1.1% gone. Goldies sees a comparison with the Swiss/Euro devaluation:

Both episodes show how challenging it is to maintain a currency peg in periods of large exchange rate moves, particularly when weak domestic fundamentals in China contrast with the ongoing recovery in the US.

As such, we see the move as an endorsement of broad Dollar strength – something we expect more of.And even if the market begins to doubt a Fed ‘lift-off’ in the near term, the relative impact of CNY weakness on growth and inflation should be smaller for the US than for other economies.

Our view remains that recent outflows should moderate; however, should outflows persist in response to sustained weakening in the CNY, they may lead to further intervention by the PBoC to slow the depreciation of the currency by selling reserves. If reserves continue to fall, there may be a reverse of the reserve recycling that supported demand for currencies such as the EUR, AUD and CAD.

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Yep. But not today! The Aussie tanked on the news then took off (now above 74 cents) as US dollar longs are still being cleared out for a delayed Fed.

About the author
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.