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Offshore yuan gains 1 percent against the greenback, crude keeps falling, and a heavy day of data in the Asia Pacific region. Here are some of the things people in markets are talking about.
Short Squeeze with Chinese Characteristics
The offshore Chinese yuan hit its highest level in seven months against the greenback, breaking below 6.80 amid speculation of state support. The surge in Hong Kong's yuan interbank offered rate brought pain to traders betting against the offshore currency. This jump comes on the heels of Moody's downgrades to both China and Hong Kong's credit ratings and a change to the People's Bank of China's fixing process for the currency that gives the central bank more flexibility to push back against market forces.
Oil Keeps Sliding
West Texas Intermediate futures fell as much as 3.9 percent in New York, and are off roughly 6 percent since the meeting between OPEC and other major oil producers May 25. The American Petroleum Institute reported a larger than expected draw in inventories last week, which helped support prices after the close. But OPEC's extension of output curbs looks to have marked more of a ceiling than a floor for crude prices amid resilient U.S. production. Declining costs for deepwater drilling projects could give OPEC another headache within a year and may prolong the global oil glut.
Coming Up…
There's a jam-packed economic calendar Thursday, headlined by releases from South Korea and Japan. South Korean inflation is poised to quicken by a tick in May, with the annual headline and core rates rising to 2.0 and 1.4 percent, respectively. May's trade data is expected to show export and import growth 15 percent year-on-year, shrinking the trade surplus to $6.8 billion for the month from $13.3 billion in April. For Japan, first-quarter capital spending is forecast to rise 4 percent year-on-year for the month, up from annual growth of 3.8 percent in the final three months of 2016. In addition, updates on first quarter corporate profits, and sales, as well as international securities transactions for the week ending May 26, are due out. Also on deck: May's manufacturing purchasing managers' indexes Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. China's Caixin PMI will be published at 10:45 a.m. Tokyo time after the official reading released on Wednesday showed the sector's rate of growth held steady, defying expectations for a slowdown.
Stocks Slip
The S&P 500 index inched lower on a down day for global equities. Banks fared particularly poorly as JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. warned that second-quarter trading revenues are on pace for a double-digit drop. The Canadian dollar was the second-worst performing G10 currency on Wednesday despite posting robust first-quarter growth, with green shoots in business investment.
Futures Mixed
Nikkei 225 futures are slightly higher while S&P/ASX 200 futures are in the red as of 5:55 a.m. Tokyo time. Tumbling iron ore and other base metal prices threaten to continue headwinds for Aussie stocks. Energy and technology stocks weighed on the MSCI Asia Pacific Index on Wednesday.
What we've been reading
This is what caught our eye over the last 24 hours.
Goldman Sachs sparks Venezuelan “hunger bonds” movement.
It's Citadel versus Warren Buffett, taking sides on this German chemical company.
Pimco: Don't buy the dip, sell the rip.
Muddy Waters' Carson Block sees “real problems” with Canada.
U.S. exit of climate deal could push world into “danger zone.”
San Francisco Fed chief lays out the case for price-level targeting.
What gets stolen from restaurants? Everything.
To contact the author of this story: Luke Kawa in New York at lkawa@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Rovella at drovella@bloomberg.net.
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