Major exchange rates traded within a narrow range during the session. USD/JPY rose slightly to an 11-month high above 149.75. Today, the Bank of Japan announced the “Summary of Opinions” for the September meeting. For those unfamiliar with this summary, it provides a concise summary of the opinions expressed by policy committee members during the meeting. It does not attribute opinions to individual members, but rather provides a general overview of the views held by the Board. This summary is prepared weeks in advance of the full meeting minutes and is often a useful source of information about what was discussed immediately after the meeting. It was notable that today’s summary did not indicate any prospects for the Bank to tweak or change its policy this year. That contributed to the further depreciation of the yen seen today. So did the rise in US yields.
As the headline of this post points out, PMIs from China were mixed. These were released over the weekend. China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)’s two official PMIs have improved since August, both exceeding expectations and both now trending toward expansion, with manufacturing returning to expansion for the first time in six months. Both privately surveyed Caixin PMIs have declined since August and were both lower than expected, but on a brighter note, both continued to expand.
Additionally, the U.S. Congress passed the “Can Kick” bill, which provides funding to the U.S. government for 45 days. US President Biden signed the bill into law. Congress now has 45 days, until mid-November, to hammer out a more permanent deal between the rival factions. if you can.
Asian stock market:
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Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average +1.4% … Domestic stocks support yen depreciation again
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China’s Shanghai Composite %…China has a holiday all week
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Hang Seng% in Hong Kong…Closed today due to public holiday, will reopen on Tuesday local time
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South Korea’s KOSPI +0.1%
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Australia S&P/ASX 200 -0.1%
