China's Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to 54.4 in May from 52.6 in April, the latest data published by RatingDog showed on Wednesday. This figure came in stronger than the market expectations of 52.3.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) gains ground for the third successive day, trading around $92.90 per barrel during the Asian hours on Wednesday.
Japan’s Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said on Wednesday that the authorities are ready to act on the foreign exchange if required.
The final reading of Australia's S&P Global Services PMI came in at 48.7 in May, compared to 50.7 in the previous reading, the latest data published by S&P Global showed on Wednesday. This figure came in better than the estimates of 47.7.
UOB’s Ho Woei Chen notes that China’s May PMIs point to softer 2Q26 GDP growth, with manufacturing hovering at the expansion threshold and services rebounding only modestly.
UOB’s Quek Ser Leang and Lee Sue Ann highlight that USD/CNH was little changed on Monday around 6.7652, but the underlying tone has softened. They expect the pair to drift lower intraday within 6.7595–6.7690 rather than stage a sharp decline.
OCBC's strategists Sim Moh Siong and Christopher Wong lower their Indonesian Rupiah (IDR) forecasts despite Bank Indonesia’s (BI) larger-than-expected 50 bp hike, arguing that renewed domestic policy uncertainty and an unfavourable external backdrop are weighing on IDR.
Philip Wee at DBS Group Research has raised his USD/PHP year-end 2026 forecast to 62.7 from 57.8, reflecting persistent external and domestic pressures. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz and higher Oil prices have widened trade deficits and pushed inflation well above target.
Standard Chartered’s Tommy Wu reports that the bank’s revamped Renminbi Globalisation Index shows higher global RMB usage in February–April 2026 versus late 2025.
DBS Group Research’s Philip Wee has revised higher his USD/IDR projections, now expecting the pair to end 2026 slightly above 18,000 versus 16,500 previously.
Commerzbank reports that USD/TWD traded steadily around 31.37, with realised one‑month volatility near 4.5%, lower than several regional peers.
UOB’s Quek Ser Leang and Lee Sue Ann note that USD/SGD stayed firm on Monday, closing around 1.2788 after trading between 1.2759 and 1.2803, supported by a stronger US Dollar and a stable Singapore Dollar (SGD) Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER).
Standard Chartered’s Shuang Ding and Hunter Chan note that the People’s Bank of China has shifted its operational focus from DR007 to DR001, aligning with the dominance of overnight repos in China’s interbank market.
Deutsche Bank analysts, including Mark Wall and team, argue Germany faces multifaceted headwinds from the Middle East conflict, with growth momentum weakening into mid‑2026. Expansionary fiscal policy is seen as the key stabilizer, keeping Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth at 0.5% in 2026.
ABN AMRO economists Bill Diviney and Rose Heaulme note that Eurozone headline inflation rose to 3.2% in May, with core inflation surprising at 2.5%. Energy remains the main driver, while food inflation eased.
Megan Greene, a member of the Bank of England's (BoE) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), warned on Tuesday that United Kingdom (UK) households and businesses appear more sensitive to rising inflation than in the past, emphasizing that the risks of failing to act against persistent inflation outweigh t
RaboResearch says Sweden’s weak Q1 GDP was driven by lower government spending but partly offset by household consumption and inventories.
The National Bank of Poland (NBP) met the broad consensus among market participants and held interest rates steady and adopted a cautious tone earlier on Tuesday, saying that future data would guide policy choices but also that inflation concerns are very much alive.
ING economists Peter Virovacz and Zoltán Homolya say Hungary’s latest GDP data show the economy emerging from stagnation, but they stress that much of the recent strength reflects temporary pre-election factors.
Commerzbank’s Dr. Vincent Stamer argues persistent Euro area inflation above 3% and rising core pressures make an European Central Bank (ECB) rate increase unavoidable. He cites firms’ intentions to pass on higher energy costs and elevated consumer inflation expectations.
The number of job openings in the United States (US) came in at 7.618 million in April, up sharply from the revised 6.887 million in March, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported in its Job Openings & Labor Turnover (JOLTS) report on Tuesday.