U.S. Banks Report Strong Q4 Profits Amid Investment Banking Surge 
South Africa Eyes ECB Repo Lines as Inflation Eases and Rate Cuts Loom 
Gold Prices Slide as Rate Cut Prospects Diminish; Copper Gains on China Stimulus Hopes 
Moody's Upgrades Argentina's Credit Rating Amid Economic Reforms 
UBS Projects Mixed Market Outlook for 2025 Amid Trump Policy Uncertainty 
Bank of America Posts Strong Q4 2024 Results, Shares Rise 
European Stocks Rally on Chinese Growth and Mining Merger Speculation 
Bank of England Expected to Hold Interest Rates at 3.75% as Inflation Remains Elevated 
Federal Reserve Faces Subpoena Delay Amid Investigation Into Chair Jerome Powell 
Bank of Japan Signals Readiness for Near-Term Rate Hike as Inflation Nears Target 
China's Refining Industry Faces Major Shakeup Amid Challenges 
Urban studies: Doing research when every city is different 
U.S. Treasury Yields Expected to Decline Amid Cooling Economic Pressures 
RBA Expected to Raise Interest Rates by 25 Basis Points in February, ANZ Forecast Says 
RBNZ is all set for its monetary policy this week for OCR review that may disappoint NZD-bears. On a broader perspective, OCR reviews that are scheduled on this Wednesday, which may disappoint NZD bears with unchanged guidance (developments since the Feb MPS have been roughly neutral). On Thursday, we get to hear from RBNZ Gov. Orr about the new monetary policy regime.
NZDJPY has halted around 76.553 several times amid stalled global equity markets.
The medium-term perspective: We have watered down our bearish outlook, now only targeting 73 by the year-end. A significant risk to Japan’s economic outlook is that China stimulus is insufficient.
OTC Updates and Options Strategy: To substantiate above bearish stance, the 3m positively skewed implied volatility indicates the hedging sentiments for the lingering bearish risks. Bids are for OTM puts up to 74.000 levels.
As a result, we construct suitable options strategy favoring slightly on the bearish side. Initiate longs in -0.49 delta put options of 3m tenors, simultaneously, short (1%) out of the money put options of the narrowed expiry (preferably 2w tenors), the strategy is executed at net debit.
Well, a higher (absolute) Delta value is desirable on the long leg in the above-stated strategy. Whereas, the Theta is positive on the short leg; as the time decay is good for an option writer (that’s why we’ve chosen narrowed expiry). The short side likely to reduce the cost of hedging with time decay advantage on the short leg, while delta longs likely to arrest potential bearish risks. Courtesy: Westpac & Sentrix
Currency Strength Index: FxWirePro's hourly NZD spot index is inching towards 54 levels (which is bullish), JPY is at 98 (bullish) while articulating (at 07:24 GMT).
For more details on the index, please refer below weblink: http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex
