News out of the US late in the afternoon (US Eastern time) that US regional bank PacWest was considering strategic options, including a sale, sent it
News
out of the US late in the afternoon (US Eastern time) that US
regional bank PacWest was considering strategic options, including a
sale, sent its share price plunging. After hours liquidity in markets
is very poor and this was exacerbated by a Japanese holiday. There
was ‘contagion’ into other markets with falls seen in equity
index futures and oil, for example. Gold and BTC found bids. AUD, NZD
and CAD all lost ground against the USD during this also, while yen
rose.
Oil
prices spiked lower and then bounced. As liquidity returned to
markets retrace moves were seen, sending oil higher. AUD, NZD, CAD
have all bounced strongly from their lows.
USD/JPY,
though, remains heavy, barely above its session low as I post.
Data
flow was light. China’s privately surveyed manufacturing PMI from
Caixin/S&P Global dropped into contraction. Australia’s trade
surplus, for March, rose well above February’s and the central
estimate. Helped along by surging exports to China, up 28.5% m/m to a
record monthly high of AUD19bn.
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