It
was a subdued range day across major FX rates with the market here in
Asia-Pacific content to wait on the consumer-level inflation data due
from the US at 8.30am Eastern time. On Wednesday we got a blowout
PPI result delivered in that, wholesale-level inflation data. US equities shrugged it off and
climbed higher. I have a post above on the range estimates for the
headline and core CPI measures if, like me, you are leaning towards
another blowout. As always, we’ll see, but at least you will have
the expected minimums and maximums available.
News
flow was light and non-impactful.
Data
flow for Japan was disappointing for Core Machinery Orders while the
September PPI came in negative, very much the opposite of the US PPI
on Wednesday. Its difficult to get too excited about long yen with
such data. Adding to the net yen weakness (again, ranges were only
small) were comments from a Bank of Japan monetary policy board
member with no indications from him of any near-term pivot in policy
from the Bank.
Asian
equity markets:
-
Japan’s Nikkei 225 +1.2%
-
China’s Shanghai Composite +0.9%
-
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng +2.1%
-
South Korea’s KOSPI +0.9%
-
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 +0.1%
Oil was little changed also: