|

US: Treasury declined to declare China a currency manipulator - Rabobank

Rabobank analysts note that the US Treasury has just declined to declare China a currency manipulator in its semi-annual foreign exchange report – but it has made clear it wants a stronger CNY prompted by Chinese economic reforms, which is not going to happen.

Key Quotes

“We are seeing further PBOC warnings of just how stable CNY is and how painful shorting it will be ahead, which is entirely unrelated to any fears of the opposite, honest.”

“Furthermore, lots of other countries are now on the US Treasury watch-list with China: Korea, where the KRW is in trouble; Japan, which is a nice surprise for PM Abe; and Singapore and Malaysia. However, India and Vietnam are no longer trouble-makers, which makes geo-strategic sense at least.”

“Yet outside Asia we see Ireland, Italy, and Germany are all there as one of the key criteria for being on the watch-list has been changed to a current-account surplus of over 2% of GDP, down from 3%.”

Author

Sandeep Kanihama

Sandeep Kanihama

FXStreet Contributor

Sandeep Kanihama is an FX Editor and Analyst with FXstreet having principally focus area on Asia and European markets with commodity, currency and equities coverage. He is stationed in the Indian capital city of Delhi.

More from Sandeep Kanihama
Share:

Editor's Picks

EUR/USD gains traction to near 1.1800 as tariff uncertainty weighs on US Dollar

The EUR/USD pair holds positive ground around 1.1795 during the early Asian session on Tuesday. The US Dollar weakens against the Euro amid US tariff uncertainty. The release of the US January Producer Price Index report will be in the spotlight later on Friday. 

GBP/USD treads water near 1.3500 as BoE-Fed divergence debate stalls

GBP/USD spent Monday spinning in place as market participants await a fresh catalyst to break the pair out of its recent range. The BoE's February hold came with a surprisingly dovish 5-4 split, and UK Consumer Price Index data last week showed inflation easing to 3.0%, reinforcing the case for earlier rate cuts, with most economists now looking to April or March for the next move. 

Gold falls below $5,200 amid pullback from monthly highs

Gold price is back under the $5,200 level in the Asian session on Tuesday, pulling back from the highest level in four weeks reached at $5,250 earlier on. The Gold price upsurge was fuelled by heightened geopolitical tensions and global trade uncertainty following US tariff decisions. However, an improvement in risk sentiment and a fresh US Dollar upswing trigger a corrective decline in the yellow metal. 

Solana DeFi platform Step Finance to close operations following treasury hack

The Solana based decentralized finance platform Step Finance announced it will end all operations effective immediately following a breach that drained its treasury.

Supreme Court nixes tariffs, Trump teases 15% global tariff

On February 20th, the Supreme Court ruled that Trump’s global tariffs under IEEPA authority were unconstitutional, effectively nullifying the framework. However, the relief was short-lived. Within hours, Trump floated a 15% blanket tariff under an alternative legal authority.

XRP recovers slightly as bearish sentiment dominates crypto market

Ripple is rising above $1.40 at the time of writing on Monday amid fresh tariff-triggered headwinds in the broader cryptocurrency market. The sell-off to $1.33, the token’s intraday low, can be attributed to macroeconomic uncertainty, geopolitical tensions and risk-averse sentiment among other factors.