· Dollar hits new one-year high to yen on U.S. pandemic recovery optimism
The dollar rose to a fresh one-year high versus the yen and traded near multi-month peaks with other rivals on Wednesday as investors bet that massive fiscal stimulus and aggressive vaccinations will help the U.S. lead a global pandemic recovery.
President Joe Biden is set to outline later on Wednesday how he intends to pay for a $3-$4 trillion infrastructure plan, after earlier this week saying 90% of adult Americans would be eligible for vaccination by April 19.
The dollar index held above 93 after surging as high as 93.357 on Tuesday. It has climbed from close to 90 at the start of March, on course for its best month since 2016.
The greenback set a fresh one-year top of 110.48 yen early in Wednesday’s Asian session, and hovered near Tuesday’s almost five-month high of $1.1711 per euro.
“U.S. economic outperformance can continue to underpin the USD in the near term,” Commonwealth Bank of Australia currency strategist Carol Kong wrote in a client note.
“JPY will be driven by the general USD strengthening trend,” potentially rising to 113 by year-end, she said.
The dollar was also supported from a spike in U.S. bond yields, which make the currency more attractive as an investment.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note jumped to a one-year high of 1.776% on Tuesday.
Investors will watch closely monthly U.S. nonfarm payrolls data on Friday, with Federal Reserve policymakers so far citing slack in the jobs market for their continued lower-for-longer stance on interest rates, which has boosted the growth outlook but also stoked worries about inflation.
Data overnight showed U.S. consumer confidence soared this month to the highest since the start of the pandemic, supporting views that economic growth will accelerate in the coming months, driven by more fiscal stimulus and an improving public health situation.
Australia’s dollar edged up to $0.7608, consolidating after its drop to $0.7564 last week, the lowest level seen this year.
The Chinese yuan traded around 6.57 per dollar in the offshore market, from the weakest since November at 6.5838, touched on both Monday and Tuesday.
· Bitcoin traded just below $59,000 despite PayPal launched a “Checkout with Crypto” service
Bitcoin traded just below $59,000, trying to close the distance to the record peak at $61,781.83 set earlier this month.
PayPal Holdings said Tuesday it launched a “Checkout with Crypto” service, which will allow U.S. users to use their cryptocurrency holdings to pay online merchants globally.
· Biden to unveil $2 trillion, 8-year infrastructure plan
President Joe Biden's $2 trillion, eight-year "American Jobs Plan," to be unveiled Wednesday, contains money for a smorgasbord of interests from roads to the power grid and will also include money for cleaning up abandoned mines — an obvious nod to coal state senators who could be the key to its passage.
· The roadmap for Biden's infrastructure plan goes back to 1956
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden will unveil an infrastructure bill during a visit to Pittsburgh. Estimates place the bill's total cost between $3 trillion and $4 trillion.
While the scope and scale of the Biden plan may be unprecedented, the two-pronged infrastructure proposal is only the latest chapter in a long history of federal efforts to bind together the nation that began with the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, popularly known as the National Interstate and Defense Highway Act, or simply the Eisenhower Interstate System.
· UK economy grew by stronger-than-expected 1.3% in fourth-quarter
Britain’s coronavirus-hammered economy grew more quickly than previously thought in the final three months of 2020, official data showed on Wednesday.
Gross domestic product increased by 1.3% between October and December last year from the previous three-month period, compared with an earlier estimate of 1.0% growth, the Office for National Statistics said.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected the growth rate to remain at 1.0%.
· German jobless falls by 8,000 in March
· China’s factory growth accelerates the most in 3 months, bolsters economic recovery
China’s manufacturing activity expanded at the fastest pace in three months in March as factories cranked up production after a brief lull during the Lunar New Year holidays, with improving global demand adding further momentum to a solid economic recovery.
The official manufacturing Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) rose to 51.9 from 50.6 in February, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Wednesday, remaining above the 50-point mark that separates growth from contraction for the 13th straight month.
Analysts had expected it to rise to 51.0.
· Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi to launch electric car business with $10 billion investment
· Huawei’s growth slowed dramatically in 2020 as U.S. sanctions take their toll
Huawei’s revenue for 2020 totalled 891.4 billion yuan ($136.7 billion), a 3.8% year-on-year rise in yuan terms. That was slower than the more than 19% revenue growth Huawei saw in 2019.
U.S. sanctions and the economic fallout from the coronavirus weighed on the Chinese technology giant.
· U.S. trade war pushing China to steal tech, talent, Taiwan says
The China-U.S. trade war is pushing Beijing to step up its efforts to steal technology and poach talent from Taiwan to boost China’s semiconductor industry’s self-sufficiency, the government of the tech-powerhouse island said on Wednesday.
· Korea’s factory output up 4.9% on exports, feeds 10-year high business sentiment
· Australia's COVID-19 vaccine roll-out misses targets
Australia has fallen far behind its target for COVID-19 vaccinations, figures showed on Wednesday, with only about 670,000 people inoculated against an initial target of 4 million by end-March.
· Malaysia needs to reset, seize new growth opportunities — BNM governor
Malaysia needs a reset and to seize new growth opportunities in order to emerge stronger from the pandemic, said Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Datuk Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus.
She proposed that focus should be on attracting quality investment, building innovation capacity, enhancing economic complexity as well as social protection reform.
· Oil prices gain on expectations OPEC+ will keep lid on output
Oil prices rose on the eve of meeting between OPEC and its allies, as investors were betting the producers would largely agree to extend their supply curbs into May.
OPEC+ has raised concerns that rising numbers of coronavirus infections globally and lockdown measures will impact the recovery in demand for oil, according to a report from the group’s experts panel meeting seen by Reuters.
Brent crude futures for May, which expires on Wednesday, rose 32 cents, or 0.5%, to $64.46 a barrel at 0525 GMT, after falling 1.3% on Tuesday. The more active Brent contract for June was up 25 cents, or 0.4%, at $64.42 a barrel.
The benchmark has shed 2.5% so far this month, compared with a 18% rise in February.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures climbed 26 cents, or 0.4%, to $60.81 a barrel, after falling 1.6% in the previous session.
Reference: CNBC, Reuters, Politico, CNN
Thai
Eng