Australia Trade Balance (MoM) came in at -1841M below forecasts (4250M) in March

Australia Exports (MoM) fell from previous 4.9% to -2.7% in March

Australia Imports (MoM) up to 14.1% in March from previous -3.2%

Australia Trade Balance (MoM) came in at 1841M below forecasts (4250M) in March

Atsushi Mimura, Japan’s Vice Finance Minister for International Affairs and top foreign exchange official, said on Thursday that he will closely monitor the foreign exchange (FX) markets. Mimura also declined to comment on FX intervention and specific currency levels.

AUD/USD inches lower after two days of gains, trading around 0.7230 during the Asian hours on Thursday. However, the Australian Dollar (AUD) may gain ground against the US Dollar (USD) amid hopes that the US and Iran were moving closer to an agreement to end the war.

The Bank of Japan (BoJ) board members shared their views on the monetary policy outlook on Thursday, per the BoJ Minutes of the March meeting.    

Japan Monetary Base (YoY) came in at -11.3% below forecasts (-10.5%) in April

Iran said a US proposal to end the war is "still being considered" after reports the two countries could be close to an agreement, the BBC reported on Wednesday.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics will publish its data for March on Thursday at 00.30 GMT. Australia’s Trade Surplus is expected to narrow to 4,250 MoM in March, compared to 5,686 in February.

Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) Governor Anna Breman said on Thursday that she anticipates slightly elevated near-term inflation, adding that growth to be slightly slower but still expected this year. 

Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said that the US-Iran conflict is looking more like an inflationary shock.

South Korea FX Reserves increased to 427.88B in April from previous 423.66B

Societe Generale analysts Kunal Kundu and Galvin Chia say Indonesia’s early‑2026 fiscal deterioration is driven by front‑loaded expenditure, with the primary balance already in deficit and raising financing needs.

MUFG’s Michael Wan highlights that the Philippines faces heightened vulnerability to Middle East supply disruptions, with April Consumer Price Index (CPI) surging to 7.2% year-on-year, far above expectations.

ING’s Senior Economist Min Joo Kang notes that South Korean inflation accelerated in April on higher energy prices, but government measures such as food vouchers, a gasoline price cap and frozen utility tariffs helped limit the increase.

Austan Goolsbee, President of the Federal Reserve (Fed) Bank of Chicago, spoke at the 2026 Milken Institute Global Conference in California, United States, on Wednesday. He stated that the impact of rising productivity on inflation remains an active topic of debate among the Fed.

Standard Chartered economists Carol Liao and Shuang Ding argue that both the US and China are incentivised to keep their bilateral relationship stable as President Trump’s 14–15 May visit approaches.

BNY’s Geoff Yu argues Latin American FX and equities now represent a single crowded ‘total return’ trade, with all regional currencies still overheld while bond holdings begin to reverse unevenly.

Albert Musalem, President of the Federal Reserve (Fed) Bank of St. Louis, spoke at the Mississippi Bankers Association on Wednesday. He said that uncertainty around tariffs and war are headwind.

BNY highlights a broad Eurozone PMI downturn, with the composite back in contraction and services particularly weak, while producer prices and input costs re‑accelerate. The bank notes markets assume ECB policy cannot diverge much from peers, a view it challenges.

Canada Ivey Purchasing Managers Index s.a came in at 57.7, above forecasts (49.9) in April

Citing an unnamed source, Iran's Tasnim News Agency reported that Iran has not yet responded to the United States' latest proposal, which contained some unacceptable provisions.

Commerzbank economists Bernd Weidensteiner and Christoph Balz assess how incoming Fed Chair Kevin Warsh could reshape U.S. monetary policy and its implications for the Dollar.

United States ADP Employment Change registered at 109K above expectations (99K) in April

"Assuming Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to, which is, perhaps, a big assumption, the already legendary Epic Fury will be at an end, and the highly effective blockade will allow the Hormuz Strait to be open to all, including Iran," United States (US) President Donald Trump said in a post p

OCBC strategists Sim Moh Siong and Christopher Wong expect a mixed performance across Asian FX as a fragile US‑Iran ceasefire cools Oil from recent highs but does not deliver a clean de-escalation.

Commerzbank’s Tatha Ghose highlights a sharp rise in Leu volatility after Romania’s government lost a no-confidence vote, leaving Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan as caretaker. The pro‑EU coalition’s collapse clouds prospects for fiscal consolidation and EU funds.

Brown Brothers Harriman’s (BBH) Elias Haddad expects the National Bank of Poland (NBP) to keep its policy rate at 3.75% for a second consecutive meeting, effectively signalling an end to its 200 bps easing cycle over the past year.

United States MBA Mortgage Applications: -4.4% (May 1) vs previous -1.6%