ForexLive Asia-Pacific FX news wrap: Japanese wage rise data begins to filter in

• El Salvador removes income taxes for money from abroad
• Putin says that from military-technical point of view Russia is ready for nuclear war
• Japan chief cabinet secretary Hayashi – important wage rises spread to mid & small firms
• Yen up as news on wages in Japan filters out – wage hikes enough for the BoJ to hike too?
• PBOC sets USD/ CNY central rate at 7.0930 (vs. estimate at 7.1775)
• More on Japan wage talks – Okuma Corp hikes wages by 15,960yen (Union demand was 18,215)
• Japan wage talks – Toyota responds to Union wage hike demand in full
• ECB’s Cipollone is speaking Wednesday
• Bank of America have raised their S&P earnings outlook for 2024 and 2025
• Bernstein analysts “are now more convinced about our $150K price (forecast) for Bitcoin”
• US Energy Information Administration data due Wednesday: 2.8 mn bbl build expected
• US President Biden has won enough delegates to lock in the 2024 Democratic nomination
• ECB’s Wunsch says the Bank can cut interest rates before wages inflation falls to 3%
• Despite stronger than forecast core CPI a Fed June rate cut is still expected
• ICYMI – BOJ reportedly considering March rate hike, but outcome is still too close to call
• ICYMI – ECB’s Holzmann says a June rate cut is more likely than in April
• New Zealand data – February Food Price Inflation Index -0.6% m/m (prior +1.2%)
• Forexlive Americas FX news wrap: Dollar climbs as US CPI stays hot
• Grayscale has filed to launch a lower-fee Bitcoin ETF
• Citadel founder and CEO Griffin says Fed should cut only slowly – warns of devastation
• Private survey of oil inventories shows a huge headline crude draw vs the build expected
• S&P closes at a new record
• European Central Bank’s Villeroy says the Bank can cut rates independent of the Fed
• Trade ideas thread – Wednesday, 13 March, insightful charts, technical analysis, ideas

The
yen gained a few points today, with USD/JPY ticking to lows just
under 147.25. The move down was slow but did accelerate a little when
news of wage agreements began hitting news. The first was Toyota, the
firm agreed to Union wage demands in full. As further results
trickled in (more in the posts linked above) USD/JPY stabilised and
then traded in mainly 147.25 – 147.50. While the wage announcements
were related to large Japanese firms, these will need to spread to
mid- and small-sized firms to have a wider impact across the economy.
The Bank of Japan meets on March 18 and 19 to assess whether the wage
gains seen are likely to result in stable and sustained CPI at the
bank’s target level of 2%. Further information on wage rises are
expected through Friday the 15th.

Elsewhere
across major FX it was very quiet and slow, with little news nor data
flow.

Late
in the US day we received the private oil inventory data, this showed
a large headline draw vs. the build expected. Official government
data, from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), follows
Wednesday morning at 10.30 am US Eastern time.

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at www.forexlive.com.