Rangebound As U.S. Developments Watched

The FX space has seen rangebound trade so far on Thursday. The greenback has pulled back slightly after ticking higher on Wednesday. Broader focus fell on Fedspeak and the approval from the U.S. House of Representatives to proceed with the impeachment of U.S. Pres Trump. In an interview, Fed's Harker said he wants inflation above 2% before starting any discussion on tightening policy.

• AUD/USD last up 17 pips at 0.7750, there is chatter of fund related offers proving support here, and exporter bids under 0.7730 providing further support.
• NZD/USD has been similarly rangebound, last up 16 pips at 0.7194. Data earlier in the session showed Building permits rose 1.2% M/M in Nov after an 8.9% increase recorded in Oct. Separately, Stats NZ published its experimental weekly data based on payday filing, which indicated a continued surge in paid jobs in Q4.
• JPY was broadly unresponsive to comments from BOJ Gov. Kuroda that the bank would not hesitate to add further easing if needed. Data earlier showed core machine orders rose 1.5% M/M against expectations for a 6.2% decline. USD/JPY last changes hands at 103.84, off session highs at 103.94.
• EUR/USD edged higher with a contact flagging demand from a macro account. Previously outlined political risks in the Eurozone continue to provide interest.
• The PBOC fixed USD/CNY at 6.4746, weakening the yuan by 141 pips. Sell side estimates predicated a fixing some 22 pips weaker for the yuan, but is much more line than the 95 pip discrepancy yesterday which markets interpreted as a signal the PBOC were uncomfortable with too much strength in the yuan.
• Going forward, focus turns to China's trade data, U.S. initial jobless claims & Swedish unemployment, as well as comments from Fed's Powell, Rosengren, Bostic & Kaplan, ECB's de Cos & Riksbank's Ingves. The ECB will publish minutes from its Dec MonPol meeting.