US Treasury yields hit fresh 2024 highs overnight as traders continued to reprice expectations for Fed rate cuts. The Philippines’ central bank holds but turns hawkish on inflation risks. Australia’s housing imbalance is expected to keep supporting prices.
In our bonus deep dive interview, ANZ Senior Commodities Strategist Daniel Hynes explains what’s driving gold’s stunning rally.
5 things to know:
US bond yields traded at their highest levels in 2024 overnight. ANZ Economist Bansi Madhavani says market pricing is heading towards only two cuts being expected this year. Meanwhile, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas held its policy rate at 6.5%, warning that upside inflation risks had increased.
Taiwan’s annual CPI inflation growth is expected to slow to 2.5% in March from 3.2% in February. That’s ahead of price pressures set to feed through in coming months from electricity fare hikes.
The big number global markets are watching for this week is US CPI inflation in March. ANZ Senior International Economist Tom Kenny is expecting core CPI to rise 0.2% for the month, which is just below the market consensus on 0.3%.
The yen nudged a 34-year low of 151.96 to the dollar, perilously close to the 152 threshold seen as a potential trigger for intervention. ANZ Head of FX Research Mahjabeen Zaman is sceptical about intervention at that level.
In Australia’s, housing lending excluding refinancing rose 1.5% in February, while building approvals fell 1.9%. ANZ Australia Senior Economist Blair Chapman says there remains a demand-supply imbalance in housing, which will push up house prices through the rest of this year.
Cheers
Bernard
PS: Catch you tomorrow with a look ahead to the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s Monetary Policy Review.
