Slow Start To Asia-Pac Session As Markets Digest U.S. News Flow

Another quiet start to the Asia-Pac session, after a Fedspeak-dominated Tuesday, which saw Fed Chair Powell warn against a highly uncertain path to recovery and call for further fiscal support, as he addressed the House Financial Services Committee. U.S. Tsy Sec Mnuchin, who also spoke to lawmakers, pointed to the White House's continued efforts to find a fiscal solution which would garner bipartisan support. Powell's colleague, Chicago Fed Pres Evans, also noted that more fiscal aid is needed to avert an even worse recession. He added that the Fed could hike interest rates before inflation averages 2% for some time, which pushed the DXY to its highest level since late July.

• Political tensions surrounding the nomination of a new Supreme Court Justice in the U.S. continue to escalate, with the GOP all but certain to be able to hold a vote on the nomination before or just after the presidential election, after Senator Romney (who earlier voted to impeach Pres Trump) gave a nod to speeding up the procedure. The NY/Asia crossover saw U.S. Pres Trump clarify that he will name his pick on Saturday at 5pm. Amy Coney Barrett appears to be the frontrunner to fill the vacant SCOTUS seat, with the press highlighting that she is better known among Senators and thus more likely to quickly win their backing.
• Elsewhere, U.S. House Speaker Pelosi announced that the Democrats struck a stopgap funding deal with the GOP & White House to avoid a gov't shutdown on Oct 1.
• T-Notes have held a very tight range so far, last trades -0-03 at 139-17, with e-minis wavering around unchanged levels. Aussie bond futures re-opened slightly lower ahead of Sep '26 Bond syndication, but have recouped losses since.
• Little action across the G10 FX space this morning, all major crosses remain rangebound.
• Main focus in Asia-Pac hours turns to the RBNZ MonPol decision and flash Japanese Jibun Bank PMIs. Thai trade data, Malaysian & Singaporean CPIs, Taiwanese industrial output and BoT MonPol decision will provide interest to EM watchers.