Donald Trump nominates Kevin Warsh to be Fed Chair, reassuring some who feared a less conventional chair would devalue the US dollar. The world’s reserve currency bounced 0.7%, while gold slumped 11% and silver fell 31%.
In our Deep-Dive interview, ANZ Senior Rates Strategist Jack Chambers looks into the remarkable stability of US bond markets, which haven’t received the ‘Sell America’ memo.
5 things to know in 5 minutes:
US President Donald Trump has nominated Kevin Warsh to succeed Jerome Powell as Fed Chair from its June meeting. ANZ Economist Bansi Madhavani says Warsh is likely to favour rate cuts, but is no fan of quantitative easing.
India’s Government presented its Budget last night, including a slower pace of fiscal consolidation than the market expected, but still plenty of capital investment spending, says ANZ Economist Dhiraj Nim.
Australia’s private sector credit growth was 0.8% in December, which was the fastest monthly growth since 2022, and much stronger than market expectations for a rise of 0.6%. A 1% rise in lending to rental property investors was also notable, being the fastest since 2007. says ANZ Economist Maddy Dunk.
ANZ New Zealand’s Roy Morgan survey of consumer confidence found a surge in January to its highest level since August 2021, says ANZ New Zealand Chief Economist Sharon Zollner.
Economic data out in Japan on Friday showed a fall in annual core inflation in Tokyo in December to 2.0% from 2.2% in November, while retail sales fell 2% in December, suggesting a slowing in consumer spending momentum towards the end of the year, says ANZ FX strategist Felix Ryan.
Cheers,
Bernard.
Catch you tomorrow with a final preview of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s big decision, which is expected to be a hike.
