NZD Atop G10 Pile, CNH Slips On Wider Weak Bias In PBOC Fix

Major currency pairs held tight ranges as the dust settled after Wednesday's release of broadly in-line U.S. CPI data. The DXY stabilised after Wednesday's rout, while the NZD narrowly outperformed its G10 peers, with NZD/USD attacking its descending 50-DMA as a result.

• Offshore yuan slipped after the PBOC set their central yuan reference rate 60 pips above sell-side estimate, which represented the largest weak bias in a month. The soft fixing came after market reaction to U.S. CPI prompted spot USD/CNH to extend its uninterrupted pullback from Jan 6 multi-week high towards the CNH6.3600 mark. With many reading the divergence in today's fixing vs. expectations as a sign of the PBOC's discomfort with a stronger redback, the rate ticked away from that round figure, snapping a four-day losing streak.
• U.S. PPI and weekly jobless claims headline today's global data docket. Elsewhere, comments are due from Fed's Barkin & Evans, ECB's de Guindos & Elderson as well as BoE's Mann.
• Worth noting that the Senate Banking Committee will hold Lael Brainard's nomination hearing for Fed Vice Chair today. In her pre-prepared remarks, Brainard said that fighting high inflation will be the Fed's "most important task."