March 3, 2021 - Page 2 of 2 - Financial Occultist

A front-page commentary piece in the China Securities Journal

Citing analysts saying the People’s Bank of China may cut the RRR for some banks in March

If so this would be another easing, at the margin, from China’s central bank.

Euro shrugs off ECB easing talk, extends gain

03-Mar-21 05:31 am

Analysis

Anirudh Sethi

EUR/USD bounces from 1.20

Today’s dip below 1.20 in EUR/USD has been met by steady buying. Some USD selling is mixed in but it’s been an impressive rebound, rising a full cent from the lows.

The bounce comes even with the ECB’s Panetta saying that unwanted tightening in the market will not be tolerated. The ECB will get a chance to underscore that at the March 11 meeting.

With this bounce and the one in February, it’s getting tougher to bet against the euro, even with a lot of negative fundamentals in place. The problem is that the negative story is so well known. A slow vaccine rollout, negative yields and a dovish ECB is all priced in. Leaning against that are some decent valuations in asset prices.

Oil falls late to settle below $60 for the first time since Feb 19

03-Mar-21 05:26 am

Anirudh Sethi

Oil dips into settlement

WTI crude oil settled $0.89 lower to $59.75 on a late-day drop. It had spent most of New York trading around $60.60 after testing these levels in Asia but a wave of selling hit late to quickly knock it 80-cents lower.

There’s some anxiety in the market ahead of the OPEC meetings and decision on Thursday. Some optimistic comments from Saudi officials today have people worried that they’ll announce an phased-out end to production curbs altogether along with a quick 1.5 mbpd increase for April.