ReserveBankof New Zealand Governor Orr spoke to various media, further conveyinghis messagethat the Bankintends to lowerinterest rates toward a more neutral setting at a measured pace. TheRBNZ began its easing cycle on Wednesday, Orr was out selling ittoday again. The New Zealand dollar hasn’t done a lot on thesession.
It dipped but bounced back with the rising AUD (more to come on this) FromJapan we had data for Q2 GDP, showing the economy expanded by a muchfaster-than-expected annualised 3.1% in the quarter. It reboundedfrom the contraction in Q1.
Consumption grew strongly. The Bank ofJapan will be eyeing this as support for its rate hike cycle. The yenweakened a little but is back to mid range and thereabouts as I post.
Australia’seconomy added 58,200 jobs (full-time employment rocketed 60,500, fora third month of strong gains) in July after the 52.2K rise in June.Participation rose to a record high, while the unemployment rateticked up a little to 4.
2%. AUD/USD has risen from pre-data lows ofunder 0.6575 to 0.
6620+ as I post. Theregular People’s Bank of China Medium-term Lending Facility (MLF)operation did not take place today. Its been scheduled for August 26.
The Bank added in nearly 600bn yuan in a 7-day reverse repo, whichmore than covers the 401bn yuan of MLF maturing. See bullets abovefor more info if needed..
