Market
movement was very subdued and lacklustre during the session here
today. Market participants are, of course, awaiting the Federal
Reserve statement at 1900 GMT. A 50bp Fed Funds rate hike is widely,
nearly unanimously, expected. After that will come Federal Reserve
System Chair Powell’s press conference.
With
CPI at 7.1% (the latest result was published on Tuesday, US time) and
Fed Funds at 4% (going to 4.5% later today) there is a ways to go
still (higher rates) for the Fed. Note that in the previous 8
rate-hike cycles the rises did not stop until the Fed Funds Rate was
above the CPI rate. And CPI ain’t gonna be under 4.5% any time
soon.
News
flow out of China was rapid-fire, including:
-
China
is preparing a US$143bn support package for its semiconductor
industry -
the
closed-door Central Economic Work Conference expected
this
week in Beijing has
been delayed (COVID impact) -
China’s
National Bureau of Statistics will cancel its November press
conference scheduled for 10 am on Thursday. Economic data scheduled
for then will be released though. -
China
is to offer a second COVID-19 booster to high-risk people
More
on these in the points above.
On
the central bank front we heard from RBNZ Governor Orr and deputy
Hawkesby. Both indicated there are further rate hikes to come from
the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (the Bank next meets on February 22).
Offshore yuan tracked more or less sideways also:
news.google.com