- USDTHB: moving in the range 33.42-33.55 this morning, supportive level at 33.40 resistance level at 33.65
· SET Index: 1,60.5 (-0.10%), 7 Feb 2023
· S&P 500 Index: 4,164.0 (+1.28%), 7 Feb 2023
· Thai 10-year government bond yield (interpolated): 2.52 (+0.40 bps), 7 Feb 2023
· US 10-year treasury yield: 3.67 (+4.00 bps), 3 Feb 2023
- U.S. trade gap widens in December; deficit highest on record in 2022
- UK construction slips to near 3-year low, but confidence rises
- Japan current account surplus shrinks sharply as weak yen, trade deficits bite
- Dollar pulls back as Powell sticks to usual Fed playbook
U.S. trade gap widens in December; deficit highest on record in 2022 The U.S. trade deficit widened in December, reversing half of the prior month's sharp contraction, as imports rebounded, and exports of goods dropped to a 10-month low amid cooling global demand and declining crude oil prices. The report from the Commerce Department on Tuesday also showed the trade gap widening to a record high in 2022. With the deficit expected to increase again in January, economists anticipated that trade would probably not provide support to the economy this quarter after contributing to gross domestic product growth for three straight quarters. The trade deficit increased 10.5% to $67.4 billion. The trade gap contracted 21.1% in November to $61.0 billion. The numbers are not adjusted for inflation. When adjusted for inflation, the so-called real goods trade gap widened to $98.6 billion from $96.1 billion in November.
UK construction slips to near 3-year low, but confidence rises Britain’s construction sector had its worst month in almost three years in January as rising borrowing costs hit house-building hard, but builders turned more confident about the outlook for 2023, a survey showed on Monday. The S&P Global/CIPS Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for the construction sector dropped to 48.4 from 48.8 in December, hitting its lowest level since May 2020. Britain’s construction sector lost its momentum during the second half of 2022 in the face of higher interest rates. The Bank of England last week raised borrowing costs to 4%, their highest since 2008, in an attempt to tackle the surge in inflation. Monday’s survey showed a sharp fall in house-building while civil engineering work and commercial projects also declined. But the construction PMI’s gauge of business expectations bounced back to its highest since July last year after touching its lowest level since May 2020 in December.
Japan current account surplus shrinks sharply as weak yen, trade deficits bite Japan's current account surplus fell sharply in December after a record rise the prior month, finance ministry data showed on Wednesday, highlighting the impact of persistent trade deficits and a weak yen on the country's once-solid balance of payments. The yen's slide over the past year has bumped up the cost of imports, including commodities and oil that were already on the rise due to the Ukraine war, putting immense pressure on Japan's overall current and trade accounts. The current account surplus stood at 33.4 billion yen ($255.51 million) in December, down steeply from a surplus of 1.8 trillion yen the previous month that was driven by income gains from securities investments and hefty Japanese investments overseas. The latest figure marked a decline of 334 billion yen from a year earlier and undershot economists' median estimates for 98.4-billion-yen surplus in a Reuters poll.
Dollar pulls back as Powell sticks to usual Fed playbook The 10-year government bond yield (interpolated) on the previous trading day was 2.52, 0.40 bps. The benchmark government bond yield (LB31DA) was 2.56, -2.0 bps. LB31DA could be between 2.30-2.80. Meantime, the latest closed US 10-year bond yields was 3.67, +4.0 bps. USDTHB on the previous trading day closed around 33.63 Moving in a range of 33.42-33.55 this morning. USDTHB could be closed between 33.40-33.80 today. The dollar eased on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell failed to offer fresh signs of a hawkish pushback against a resilient labor market in the United States, leading investors to bet that interest rates may not rise much further. In a question-and-answer session before the Economic Club of Washington on Tuesday, Powell acknowledged that interest rates might need to move higher than expected if economic conditions remained strong but reiterated that he felt a process of disinflation was underway. The U.S. dollar struggled to recover its losses in Asia trade on Wednesday, after slipping in the previous session as Powell spoke.
Sources : ttb analytics , Bloomberg, CNBC, Trading economics, Investing, CEIC
