The Canadian dollar is rallying midweek on China’s latest announcements of fiscal and monetary stimulus to combat the negative economic effects of the Wuhan coronavirus, also officially known as Covid-19. The loonie also benefited from soaring crude oil prices on Wednesday, but gains were capped on warnings that the rail blockade by protesters will affect the national economy.
The Chinese yuan is mixed midweek as traders are waiting to see how the federal government reacts to the economic fallout from the Wuhan coronavirus, which was recently named Covid-19 by the World Health Organization (WHO). The central bank has responded and Beijing has unleashed several stimulus measures, but disappointing 2019 fiscal numbers might limit what the federal government can do.
The Canadian dollar is weakening against most major currency competitors to close out the trading week. Despite retail sales coming in stronger than expected and inflation matching market expectations, the loonie’s decline could still be driven by the central bank leaving interest rates unchanged. Is the market signaling that a rate cut is needed to resuscitate economic growth?
The Australian dollar rallied against all other of its most-traded rivals, even the Japanese yen, which itself was rather strong. The main reason for the Aussie’s great performance was a surprisingly good domestic employment report, which improved the outlook for monetary policy a bit. Even risk aversion prevailing on the market was unable to stop the Australian currency from rallying.
The Japanese yen is mixed on Tuesday after the central bank announced that it was leaving interest rates unchanged and raising its economic growth forecasts for 2020 and 2021. Tokyo also reported disappointing industrial production and capacity utilization data, despite the federal government spending billions in stimulus.
The Japanese yen is weakening against most of its currency rivals on Thursday as consumer confidence tumbled in December and recent investment numbers turned heads in Tokyo. The yen had rallied in the wake of the escalation in the US-Iran conflict, but with Middle East tensions abating investors resuscitated their risk appetites.
The Japanese yen today traded in a tight range against the US dollar despite the greenback’s overall weakness against other major currencies. The USD/JPY traded sideways even as the Nikkei 225 equity index closed lower for the day despite the risk-on market sentiment.
The Chinese yuan is spiking on Thursday after President Donald Trump tweeted that the US and China are “very close to a big deal.” Mirroring the financial markets, the yuan pared its earlier losses and is rallying on the news. The yuan could end the week higher following this week’s upbeat economic data. But could the yuan exit the 7 territory against the US dollar to close out the year?
The Chinese yuan is trading slightly lower against multiple currencies to kick off the trading week. The yuan’s performance on Monday was driven by the latest disappointing trade numbers that suggest Beijing is still reeling from the US-China trade dispute. This might explain why, according to Chinese government officials, the world’s second-largest economy wants to settle phase one of a deal.
The US dollar performed very poorly last week despite the better-than-expected employment report. This week will have a couple important macroeconomic releases as well as a monetary policy meeting of the US central bank. Yet it is very likely that factors outside of the United States will have a bigger impact on the greenback.
