Forex News for 3 March, 2023
Amsterdam
March 3, 2023
- The ECB’s February minutes revealed agreement on further tightening, but also a discussion on exercising caution to prevent excessive monetary policy tightening.
- Initial jobless claims in the US fell from 192K to 190K, indicating a strong labor market and a possibility for further rate hikes.
- RBNZ’s Governor emphasized the need to bring inflation back to the target range to avoid economic crashes and permanent unemployment.
- FOMC members Neel Kashkari and Raphael Bostic expressed different opinions on rate hikes, with Kashkari being open to 25 or 50bps hikes and Bostic favoring a quarter-point move pacing with a possible pause later this year.
- Tokyo’s core inflation declined from a 42-year high of 4.3% YoY to 3.3% in February, approaching BOJ’s 2% target.
- Japan’s unemployment rate unexpectedly decreased to 2.4%, the lowest rate since February 2020.
- China’s Caixin services PMI improved from 52.9 to 55.0 in February, indicating a post-COVID recovery in other business activities earlier this week.
- As COVID stimulus measures wind down, Australia’s new owner-occupier first-home buyer loan commitments fell by 4.9% m/m in January, hitting their lowest level since February 2017.
- New Zealand’s consumer confidence declined by 3 points to 79.8 in February, driven by rising living costs and interest rates.
- Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies experienced a sudden drop, which could be linked to operational issues at Silvergate Bank, a crypto-friendly financial institution that failed to submit an annual report.
