ForexLive Asia-Pacific FX news wrap: USD/JPY ticked higher

• ICYMI – Fed’s Mester says forecast of 3 rate cuts this year is probably too many
• Federal Reserve speakers on Tuesday include FOMC Vice Chair Williams
• China State Planner says 50 fixed-asset investment projects worth 320bn yuan approved YTD
• Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey is speaking on Tuesday
• RBA minutes: Considered whether to raise rates
• PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at 7.1069 (vs. estimate at 7.2366)
• Australia: Westpac consumer confidence index (May): -0.3% to 82.2 (prior -2.4% to 82.4)
• More from Japan’s Suzuki: Weak yen has positive and negative aspects
• Japan finance minister Suzuki says he will attend the G7 meeting and discuss “issues”
• ICYMI – China’s capital outflow surges to its highest since 2016
• New Zealand Treasury says there is no near term turning point seen for the economy
• Australian telecommunications giant Telstra slashing up to 9% of its workforce
• PBOC-backed Chinese media says China should focus policy on boosting consumer demand
• US (dis?) inflation – Target to cut prices on another 5000 items
• Morgan Stanley’s Wilson says he sees the S&P 500 at 5,400 by Q2 2025 (previously 4,500)
• 6 reasons markets are way too optimistic on Federal Reserve rate cuts
• WSJTimiraos says Fed forecasts imply 6-month annualized rate of core PCE inflation at 3.2%
• Forexlive Americas FX news wrap 20 May. Nasdaq closes at record. USD moves higher.
• US major indices close the day with mixed results
• Trade ideas thread – Tuesday, 21 May, insightful charts, technical analysis, ideas

Ranges
for major FX were relatively subdued in Asia trade. USD/JPY has
ticked quietly higher towards 156.50. We had some mild jawboning in
support of the yen from Japan’s finance minister Suzuki. Perhaps
USD/JPY would have been higher without him but who knows? He didn’t
seem to have much impact, but like I said the comments were only
mild.

The
USD gained some ground elsewhere across the majors board. There was
an element of ‘risk off’ with stocks in mainland China and Hong
Kong taking a hit.

News
flow was barely noticeable, and data flow was light and lower tier.

We
did get Minutes of the May Reserve Bank of Australia meeting, the
Bank sounding a hawkish note.

—

USD/JPY grinding higher vs. racing higher means a lower risk of an obstreperous Japanese Ministry of Finance / Bank of Japan:

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