Reserve Bank of New Zealand Governor Orr spoke to various media, further conveying his message that the Bank intends to lower interest rates toward a more neutral setting at a measured pace. The RBNZ began its easing cycle on Wednesday, Orr was out selling it today again. The New Zealand dollar hasn’t done a lot on the session. It dipped but bounced back with the rising AUD (more to comeon this)
From Japan we had data for Q2 GDP, showing the economy expanded by a much faster-than-expected annualised 3.1% in the quarter. It rebounded from the contraction in Q1. Consumption grew strongly. The Bank of Japan will be eyeing this as support for its rate hike cycle. The yen weakened a little but is back to mid range and thereabouts as I post.
Australia’s economy added 58,200 jobs (full-time employment rocketed 60,500, for a third month of strong gains) in July after the 52.2K rise in June. Participation rose to a record high, while the unemployment rate ticked up a little to 4.2%. AUD/USD has risen from pre-data lows of under 0.6575 to 0.6620+ as I post.
The regular 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, which more than covers the 401bn yuan of MLF maturing. See bullets above for more info if needed.
