Australian Dollar

By Chris Becker US stocks continued their pullback overnight in the face of some end of month window dressing, continuing the volatile year that will be 2018.

The selloff from overnight continued here in Asia today as markets weighed up the return of King Dollar and the more hawkish head of the Fed.

Via Bill Evans just now: We have slightly revised our forecast profile for the AUD/USD following a review of our forecasts for commodity prices. We now expect that the AUD/USD will hold around AUD/USD 0.77 to June (prior was AUD/USD 0.76) before falling to AUD/USD 0.74 by year’s end (prior AUD/USD 0.72).

By Chris Becker King Dollar has returned!

The Aussie dollar fell last night but not as fast as collapsing yield spreads.

Risk markets are quite mixed here in Asia, particularly in China where stocks sold off in large caps due to concerns over earnings.

By Chris Becker Its a near one month high for US stocks as they led the charge again overnight setting up for another very positive session here in Asia today.

Friday’s solid session on Wall Street and the lack of bad news over the weekend has resulted in a sea of green across Asian markets today, with Chinese bourses leading the charge following the news of Xi Jinping’s extension in the top seat.

By Chris Becker  The recovery continues, particularly on US stocks which rallied strongly on Friday night as 2018 brings forth more volatility and hence more opportunity.

A mixed end to the week here in Asia with stock markets outside China rising even after a poor overnight lead from Wall Street.

From Bloomie: One of Australia’s biggest money managers is betting the Australian dollar will slide, just as hedge funds ratchet up bets on the currency appreciating.

By Chris Becker Another very mixed night in stock markets on both sides of the Atlantic following an equally uncertain session here in Asia yesterday.

Following the poor lead from US stocks overnight, its been a rough day here in Asia, although the return of Chinese markets stopped a sea of red across the board.

By Chris Becker Uncertainty is ruling risk markets once more as interest rate normalcy reared its ugly head again overnight with the release of the FOMC minutes, sending the USD and Treasury yields higher.

The Australian dollar peak looks well and truly in: The driver of weakness is the plunging yield spread to the USD which hit new wides across the curve last night as lousy Australian wages and confident Fed collided: The five year spread is approaching record lows.

Via Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi in January: USD: hard to see a clear trigger to reverse near-term sell off The US dollar has continued to weaken during the Asian trading with the dollar index breaking below the 90.00-level for the first time since the end of 2014.

A slightly better day here in Asia, but risk markets are still listless given the lack of follow through on Wall Street overnight from its long weekend holiday.

By Chris Becker The return of US traders from their long weekend has seen the return of nerves with stocks selling off overnight as record Treasury auctions saw very high yields returned, sparking more fear that the bond bull market is over.

Via Soc Gen: Familiar FX/rate/volatility correlations are failing as the global economy moves out of the post-financial-crisis phase of absurdly cheap money.

The poor showing in European stocks overnight has led to a mild selloff on Asian stock markets, not helped by the still closed Chinese bourses.

Via Deutsche: Central banks are looking into cryptocurrencies and the underlying distributed ledger technology, as they carry responsibility for issuing physical cash, overseeing and/or providing payment clearing and settlement systems, conducting monetary policy and safeguarding financial stability.

By Chris Becker A long weekend in the US is not giving risk markets confidence as European stocks sold off slightly overnight as did German bunds and other sovereign bonds.