Daily Market Briefing, Asia Pacific

• Negative vibes. A slightly more bearish tone ahead of tonight’s US PCE deflator data. Equities & bond yields a bit lower. AUD & NZD underperform.• RBNZ holds. RBNZ clipped the markets hawkish wings. Rates held steady & odds of another hike were watered down. NZD fell. This dragged on the AUD.• AU CPI. Headline inflation failed to re-accelerate in January. But there was little new info on services prices. AU retail sales released today. A slightly more bearish tone across markets overnight as traders gear up for the release of the US PCE deflator (the US Fed’s preferred inflation...

• Low vol. US/European equities consolidated, while bond yields nudged up. FX markets were well contained. AUD range traded over the past 24hrs.• RBNZ decision. RBNZ meets today. Markets are assigning a ~21% chance they hike rates. No change could see the NZD fall & AUD/NZD snap back.• AU CPI. January reading of the monthly CPI indicator due today. Annual inflation forecast to re-accelerate. This may catch the eye & give the AUD a boost. Another uneventful session overnight. US and European equities consolidated (S&P500 +0.1%), with yesterday’s lift in Asia not flowing through (China’s CSI300 index rose 1.2%, its...

• Holiday trade. Minimal moves with the US on holiday. European equities consolidated, while the major currencies remained range bound.• USD trends. ECB wage indicator & Canadian CPI tonight. US Fed commentary in focus later this week with markets now pricing in little chance of a March cut.• AUD drivers. February minutes released today & wage data due tomorrow. Signals from China suggest spending was positive during Lunar New Year. With the US closed for Presidents Day and newsflow limited there were minimal market moves overnight. European equities consolidated with the EuroStoxx600 (+0.2%) making its way up towards its January...