Volatility Drops As TWD Weakens

Taiwan dollar is stronger in early trade, USD/TWD last at 27.9525 after rising as high at 27.99 into yesterday's close. This denoted a one week low for TWD and saw volatility fall to a two low of 4.67%.

• April CPI released after market yesterday came in above estimates, the Y/Y figure at 2.09% was above the 1.86% forecasted, while core CPI printed 1.35% vs 1.15% expected.
• Markets look ahead to trade balance data later today, exports are expected to have surged again thanks to global demand for chips, consensus is for exports to have risen 276% in April from 27.1% in March.
• Elsewhere, a central banker in Taiwan has said that CBC intervention is fighting a losing battle if profitable companies continue to attract inflows. Chang Chien-yi made his comments in a Bloomberg interview, and come on the back of comments from two other current board members who called for an overhaul of the banks currency policy. It should be noted that Chang and the other dissenters are not members of the core board, and as such do not directly dictate policy.
• Elsewhere as China's sabre rattling continues there could be clashes with the global community over the issue of Taiwan at a UN event tomorrow. US Secretary of State Blinken and China's Foreign Minister Wang will meet virtually at the summit along with other foreign ministers, and it is expected that Blinken will criticize China over its actions on Taiwan among other things. China has traditionally not responded well to these kind of admonishments, such as a critical G7 communique where it said the West should stay out of its affairs.