Daily Market Briefing, Asia Pacific

• Commodity FX. AUD, NZD, & CAD under pressure. AUD around levels last traded in November-2023. NZD touched a fresh ~2-year low.• Central banks. US Fed meets tomorrow, as does BoJ & BoE. Another Fed rate cut expected. Focus will be on its guidance & forecasts.• Already priced? Markets already factoring in fewer Fed rate cuts in 2025. It could be hard for the Fed to be more ‘hawkish’ than what’s priced. Central bank meetings will be the focus over the next few sessions with the US Fed (Thurs 6am AEDT), Bank of Japan (Thurs, no set time), and Bank...

• Mixed signals. US CPI matched forecasts boosting expectations for a Fed cut next week. US equities rose but so did bond yields. USD firm.• Policy trends. BoC cut by 50bps. But flagged a more measured pace. ECB expected to cut again tonight. Shifting yield spreads remain USD supportive.• AUD impulses. AUD whipped around by newsflow. AU jobs data released today. Short-term AUD reaction to data likely to be binary. It was a busy night in terms of newsflow, however, outside of a jump up in US equities most other markets were well contained with the odd burst of volatility...

• RBA rhetoric. Changes by the RBA to its guidance weighed on AUD. NZD has gone along for the ride. Odds of a February RBA cut have risen.• Data driven. Data will drive the RBA’s decision. Jobs report released tomorrow. Quarterly CPI out in late-January.• Global macro. Bank of Canada expected to cut rates again tonight. US CPI also due. Sticky core inflation could give the USD more support. Offshore market moves were fairly constrained overnight as participants await the latest read on US inflation (due tonight at 12:30am AEDT). European and US equities dipped with the S&P500 (-0.3%) holding...