ForexLive Asia-Pacific FX news wrap: USD/JPY tested 150.30 but dribbled back under 150.00

• Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Lorie Logan speaking on Tuesday
• China – Tesla (TLSA) announced Autopilot functionality for urban roads
• Bank of England Chief Economist Huw Pill speaking on Tuesday
• Trump’s admin is seeking to further tighten chip controls on China
• European Central Bank board member Isabel Schnabel will be speaking on Tuesday
• People’s Bank of China 300bn yuan Medium-term Lending Facility (MLF) at unchanged rate 2%
• Bank of Korea says U.S. tariff policies, Fed policies among uncertainties for Korea
• Goldman Sachs sees copper market step-up in price range, to $10,500-$11,500/t.
• Heads up – Trump will be signing more executive orders on Tuesday, 1500 US Eastern time
• Chinese tech giants are ramping up orders for Nvidia’s H20 AI chip
• PBOC sets USD/ CNY mid-point today at 7.1726, lowest since January 20
• Trump says wants the Keystone XL pipeline built
• Bank of Korea cuts its base rate by 25bp, to 2.75%, as expected
• JP Morgan see “tariff headline news flow risk as a continuous theme” through 2025
• Japan PPI Services for January +3.1% y/y (expected +3.1%)
• Fed’s Goolsbee: The Bank is required, by law, to think about any Trump tariff price rises
• Macron says the EU is set to announce short-term defence financing
• Bank of America warn of US stagflation risk, but expect it to be not too awful
• Australian weekly consumer sentiment survey hits its highest since May 2022
• Ethereum drops further, under US$2600
• Here’s a forecast for S&P 500 to 6600 by end 2025: 3 reasons to shrug off tariff concerns
• Trump Confirms tariffs on Canada, Mexico ‘will go forward’
• Bank of America on tariff inflation – expects a10% price rise for PCs
• Trade ideas thread – Tuesday, 25 February, insightful charts, technical analysis, ideas
• Forexlive Americas FX news wrap 24 Feb: US stocks fall despite talk of peace deal ahead.

Late
in the U.S. afternoon, Trump confirmed that the tariffs on Mexico and
Canada, set to take effect on March 4, “will go forward.”
This initially drove U.S. dollar strength into the Asian morning.
However, that strength later faded, and as I post, EUR, AUD, NZD,
GBP, and CAD have all rebounded well off their lows.

From Japan, January services PPI data came in as
expected at +3.1% y/y, up from +2.9% in December. USD/JPY climbed
after the release, briefly topping 150.30 before reversing back below
150.00.

In central bank news, the Bank of Korea cut its
benchmark rate from 3% to 2.75%, a widely anticipated move.

Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee,
speaking in a TV interview, said the Fed remains in “wait and
see” mode regarding new administration policies and their impact
on inflation and the broader economy.

The People’s Bank of China net drained 200bn in
its monthly Medium-term Lending Facility (MLF) operation today,
keeping the MLF rate steady at 2%. The Bank also set its USD/CNY
reference rate at its strongest level since January 20.

Chinese tech stocks opened nearly 5% lower but
reversed sharply, trading positive within 90 minutes.

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