Crude inventory build surprised the market

News and data flow was fairly light during the session. It began with a surprise build in crude inventory showing in the private (API) survey.

The macroeconomic data flow was fairly light on Wednesday morning in Tokyo.

The private (API) crude inventory survey showed a surprise build. Oil has dribbled a little lower during the session with the large draw cited as a contributor. Official US government inventory data will follow mid-morning on Wednesday in the US.

The private (API) crude inventory survey showed a surprise build. Oil has dribbled a little lower during the session with the large draw cited as a contributor. Official US government inventory data will follow mid-morning on Wednesday in the US.

From Japan we had wholesale inflation data. The April PPI came in as expected and down a touch from March. The slightly stronger yen helped ease imported inflationary pressure but fuel and rice prices remained high. Japan's government has released rice from its strategic reserve but price decline is slow to filter through.

USD/JPY ticked up just a little after the data but soon reversed. Highs were around 147.65 and the trek lower took the rate to circa 147.01. The Bank of Japan bought back 20bn yen in JGBs.

The People’s Bank of China continued to mark the onshore yuan stronger, setting it at its highest against the USD (ie the lowest for USD/CNY) since April 3 at 7.1956, well under the psychological 7.2 level.

The People’s Bank of China continued to mark the onshore yuan stronger, setting it at its highest against the USD (ie the lowest for USD/CNY) since April 3 at 7.1956, well under the psychological 7.2 level.

Trump crossed the wires with a few comments in a Fox interview but with nothing to move markets around. He defended accepting the free plane from Qatar to be used as Air Force 1 in a social media post. News crossed also that a Chinese company linked to TikTok bought US$300,000,000 of TRUMP Coin.

Trump crossed the wires with a few comments in a Fox interview but with nothing to move markets around. He defended accepting the free plane from Qatar to be used as Air Force 1 in a social media post. News crossed also that a Chinese company linked to TikTok bought US$300,000,000 of TRUMP Coin.

From Australia we had Q1 wages data, the 0.9% q/q rise was above the 0.8% consensus expectation but matched the Reserve Bank of Australia's forecast. The RBA is expected to cut its cash rate at its meeting on May 19-20. The data today, having hit their target, is unlikely to stop that cut.