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New U.S. Sanctions on Russia as Putin Conducts Nuclear Tests
The U.S. has imposed new sanctions on Russia's two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, after planned peace talks between Trump and Putin collapsed on Wednesday.
Oil prices spiked 3% after the announcement, with Brent crude hitting $64 per barrel.
The targeted companies are among the world's largest energy exporters, collectively shipping about three million barrels of oil daily and accounting for nearly half of Russian production.
The sanctions build on recent European measures, as the UK targeted the same companies last week and the EU approved its own sanctions package on Wednesday.
In a show of force coinciding with the new sanctions, Putin supervised strategic nuclear exercises on Wednesday involving intercontinental ballistic missile launches from land and submarine platforms.
While the Kremlin emphasised these were routine drills, the highly coincidental timing is notable.
For markets, the key question now is whether secondary sanctions will follow, and if Trump’s enforcement remains strict. Traders will watch closely for any TACO signals that see Trump ease pressure in an attempt to restart negotiations.
Historic PM Wasting No Time on Celebrations
Sanae Takaichi made history this week as Japan's first female Prime Minister. The 64-year-old conservative leader, dubbed the "Iron Lady,” is already rolling out an aggressive policy agenda that could reshape Japan's economic and geopolitical position.
Her first major move is an economic stimulus package expected to exceed US $92 billion. The package includes abolishing the provisional gasoline tax and raising the tax-free income threshold from ¥1.03 million ($6,800), moves designed to put more money in consumers' pockets and battle inflation.
Her next move will come when Trump arrives in Tokyo next week, as the Japanese government is finalising a purchase package including Ford F-150 pickup trucks, US soybeans, and liquefied natural gas as sweeteners for trade talks.
Takaichi has campaigned on being a champion for expansionary fiscal policy, monetary easing, and heavy government investment in strategic sectors, including AI, semiconductors, biotechnology, and defence.
Critical Workers to Miss First Paycheck Due to Shutdown
The U.S. government shutdown is on the verge of creating a crisis for aviation safety, with 60,000 workers set to miss their first full paycheck this week.
These essential workers, who earn an average of $40,000 annually, already saw shortened paychecks last week. By Thursday, many will receive pay stubs showing zero compensation for the coming period, forcing impossible choices between basic necessities and reporting to work.
During the last extended shutdown, TSA sick-call rates tripled by Day 31, causing major delays at checkpoints and reduced air traffic in major hubs like New York — disruptions which are directly attributed to pressuring the end of the previous shutdown.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association warns that similar pressures are building, with many workers soon to be facing a decision between attending their shift or putting food on the table.
USD rallied in Tuesday’s session, with the US dollar Index hitting a 2024 high of 106.510 after hawkish Fed Chair Powell commentary where he noted recent data was showing a lack of further progress on inflation. Powell also added that if higher inflation persists the Fed can maintain current rate as long as needed. On data, building permits and housing starts came in beneath analyst expectations while industrial production was in line with forecasts but manufacturing output beat.
USDJPY moved higher for a 5 th straight session, with the pair closing the New York session at highs of 154.78. There was what appeared to be an intervention earlier in the US session with a steep 100 pip drop on no headlines that quickly retraced. This looked like a shot across the bow from the BoJ with market participants suspecting intervention and will likely strengthen expectations that 155.00 is the line in the sand for Japanese officials.
Data releases this week have hinted that the strong US activity story may be about to turn. The ISM services index declined more than expected, with the “prices paid” component slowing meaningfully to a four-year low. Yesterday, the NFIB reported that small business was looking to cut back on hiring and with small businesses accounting for almost half of total US jobs suggest we could see sub-50k payrolls by June.
Today’s March NFP figure is expected at 214k with some economists predicting a miss to the downside, a print below 200k should put pressure on the dollar given it’s high sensitivity to data recently as the market tries to get ahead of future Fed actions. The US Dollar Index (DXY) is currently trading between resistance at 105, which was the February high, and support at the psychological 104 level. Both these levels will be in play on the back of today’s NFP, FX traders will be watching for breaks or holds of these key levels to gauge short term momentum for DXY.
A May cut from the Fed looks off the table, but June remains in play with odds currently at 60% in the Fed Funds futures market. Should the pricing for a June cut move from 60% to 100%, the dollar may well take a bigger hit than what the swing in rate differentials would imply.
USD continued the move lower sparked by a somewhat dovish Powell in Wednesdays FOMC meeting. And ahead of today’s key NFP print. DXY did hit highs after hot labour costs data, though quickly reversed to hit 3-week lows of 105.29, closing at session lows and looking to test the major support at 105.
JPY was the clear outperformer of G10 currencies, helped by a Reuters report that BoJ data suggesting that the sharp spikes in Yen strength on Monday and Wednesday this week were indeed BoJ intervention. USDJPY dropping almost 4.5% from the spike high early in Monday’s session to be hovering just above the 153 mark coming in to today’s APAC session. CHF was also an outperformer in Thursday’s session, led higher by a hot April Swiss CPI print where the headline figure of 1.4% Y/Y was well above the expected 1.1%.
USDCHF dropped to a low of 0.9094 before finding some buyers at the April support level of 0.9085, this will be a key level to watch in this pair ahead oh US NFP later today.
Mondays FX trade was relatively quiet on ahead of a some key central bank meetings today in the RBA and especially the BoJ. USD saw gains with the Dollar Index (DXY) rising from lows of 103.33 to highs of 103.65, with the index heading into APAC trade near Monday’s session high after yields were higher across the curve ahead of key risk events this week. JPY stuttered against the Dollar with USDJPY rising slightly and holding above the 149 level ahead of today’s BoJ rate decision.
The latest from Nikkei suggests the BoJ is set to end NIRP, end YCC and also end ETF purchases at today’s meeting. Markets are not fully convinced though with rates futures pricing in around a 50-50 chance of a move from the BoJ today, with April being the timeline some economist’s favour. AUDUSD was flat ultimately flat with AUDUSD rallying modestly in the APAC and UK session before paring gains in the US session ahead of today’s RBA meeting.
The Aussie central bank is widely expected to hold rates, but it will be the statement and presser to see what level of tightening bias (if any) the RBA still holds that will move the Aussie. Gold bounced back modestly, despite a mostly bid USD and higher yields, finding buyers and holding the key 2150 USD an ounce support level.
The negative dollar reaction to a modest tick-up in US jobless claims yesterday (231k versus consensus 212k) where the US Dollar Index (DXY) dropped from session highs at 105.74 to close at session lows of 105.20 seems to be telling FX traders that tells us that: a) markets are probably lacking some sense of direction in the period between payrolls and US CPI. b) the generally overbought dollar remains quite vulnerable to even slightly softer US data releases. c) markets may be buying in more convincingly on the softening US jobs market narrative. Beyond very short-term price movements, it’s looking like the key for the USD to trend materially lower remains inflation. Consensus is looking at 0.3% month-on-month core CPI print on Wednesday, which is still too high for the Fed to start cutting rates this summer.
Today’s US calendar includes only the University of Michigan surveys. Markets will be watching closely whether the medium and long-term inflation expectations have moved at all from April’s 3.0/3.2% levels. From the Fed the most interesting speaker will be Neel Kashkari, who recently argued for a higher neutral rate, which would suggest current monetary policy is not as restrictive as perceived.
USD was notably lower after what was seen as a dovish FOMC meeting on Wednesday. The Fed 2024 median dot was left unchanged with 3 cuts for 2024 still the Fed forecast but the dovish part came at the presser where Fed Chair Powell downplayed the hot January and February CPI numbers. This dovish tilt saw risk assets surge and the USD dump.
USDJPY bucked the weak Dollar trend pushing up to 152 before the result from the FOMC saw it pare some of those gains. A hawkish BoJ source reporting in Nikkei that suggested another hike could come in July or October also supporting the Yen somewhat. There is also speculation if the Yen weakness were to continue the BoJ/MoF could step in to intervene, with ING noting that local accounts felt that 155 would be red line.
Gold ripped to all time highs, with XAUUSD hitting a high of 2222 USD an ounce on the back of USD weakness and falling yields post FOMC, before falling back just above the old high at 2195 heading into the APAC session. Today ahead, more Central Bank action out of the BoE and SNB for FX traders to look forward to.