Aurelia Butler

SYDNEY (Reuters) – The dollar hovered a little below the year’s peaks on Tuesday, while cryptocurrencies scaled records, as inflation numbers loom as the next test of traders’ thinking on the outlook for interest rates.Price data, due from both China and the United States on Wednesday, could also test central bankers’ promises of patience. Economists expect the numbers to show profound pressure on factory gate prices in China, which can flow through global supply chains, and U.S. consumer prices galloping ahead.Inflation expectations had tugged real U.S. yields and the dollar a little lower overnight, particularly against the New Zealand dollar, but it remains within sight of highs hit on Friday.The euro, which had dropped to a 15-month trough of $1.15135 in the wake of Friday’s strong U.S. jobs figures, held at $1.1588.The greenback steadied just above 113 yen. However it had dropped about 0.7% against the kiwi overnight as traders stay wary of the possibility that the Reserve Bank of New Zealand could raise rates by 50 basis points (bps) later this month.The kiwi was last steady at $0.7162.”If the RBNZ is of a mind to hike by 50bps, now’s the time,” ANZ analysts said in a note.”That still seems incongruous with the uncertain global backdrop and cautious tone of other central banks. Still, until we know the outcome, markets will price in the risk.”The risk-sensitive Australian dollar had also firmed overnight and held most of the modest gain to trade at $0.7410 on Tuesday. The U.S. dollar index was steady at 94.095, about the middle of the range it kept through October.Bitcoin, which is sometimes seen as an inflation hedge and has been surging on a wave of positive news, rose to a record $67,700 in Asia trade, pulling ether with it to a record $4,800.Sterling, hammered last week when the Bank of England surprised markets by holding rates steady, had made something of a recovery on Monday as world bond markets pared back some aggressive bets on imminent higher interest rates.Sterling was last at $1.3561 after falling as low as $1.3425 on Friday.Ahead of the data, a slew of central bankers are due to speak later on Tuesday, including European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde at 1300 GMT and Fed chair Jerome Powell at 1400 GMT.Last week, along with the Bank of England surprise, the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Federal Reserve pushed back at markets’ aggressive hike projections and some of the edge has come off rates’ pricing.Fed funds futures have pushed back rates lift-off from around July next year to September or October. Analysts at Standard Chartered (OTC:SCBFF) also expect a hike in the third quarter of next year, but a slow path higher thereafter.”We suspect that the discussion of rate hikes will subside for a while. Central banks that give forward guidance discourage investors from pricing policy moves too far in advance,” strategists Steve Englander and John Davies said in a note.”So we expect Fed officials to keep repeating that rate hikes are not imminent until a move is only a few months away.” ========================================================Currency bid prices at 0051 GMTDescription RIC Last U.S. Close Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid Previous Change Session Euro/Dollar $1.1580 $1.1587 -0.05% -5.22% +1.1591 +1.1581 Dollar/Yen 113.1900 113.2250 +0.00% +9.62% +113.2800 +0.0000 Euro/Yen 131.08 131.18 -0.08% +3.28% +131.2600 +131.0700 Dollar/Swiss 0.9138 0.9136 +0.02% +3.29% +0.9140 +0.9128 Sterling/Dollar 1.3552 1.3566 -0.10% -0.80% +1.3567 +1.3553 Dollar/Canadian 1.2454 1.2441 +0.11% -2.19% +1.2455 +1.2442 Aussie/Dollar 0.7398 0.7423 -0.34% -3.83% +0.7423 +0.7397 NZ Dollar/Dollar 0.7151 0.7168 -0.22% -0.40% +0.7165 +0.7152 All spotsTokyo spotsEurope spots Volatilities Tokyo Forex market info from BOJ More

The fee-free broker said the full names of a different group of about two million people were also exposed in the breach, while 310 people had more personal information, including names, birth, dates and zip codes, compromised.Robinhood (NASDAQ:HOOD) said it believed no social security numbers, bank account numbers, or debit card numbers were exposed and that there has been no financial loss to any customer as a result of the incident, which took place on Nov. 3.”The unauthorized party socially engineered a customer support employee by phone and obtained access to certain customer support systems,” the company said in a blog post, adding that the third party had demanded an extortion payment.The company’s shares fell about 3% in extended trading. More

(Reuters) -AMC Entertainment’s chief said on Monday the theater chain was in talks with Hollywood studios to launch non-fungible tokens (NFTs), after the company handily beat estimates for quarterly revenue as moviegoers returned to the big screen. The company, which is looking to accept bitcoin as a payment method, said it was also exploring launching its own cryptocurrency and selling its own brand of popcorn in grocery stores.”This is the 21st century after all, and it would seem that there may be a real opportunity for AMC in these areas,” CEO Adam Aron said in a post-earnings call, referring to its foray into NFTs, a type of digital asset which uses blockchain to record the ownership of items such as images and videos. But the talks were still preliminary and there was no assurance, he said. The world’s largest movie-theater company had struggled during the pandemic as attendance came to a standstill, but rising COVID-19 vaccinations, easing curbs and new titles such as “Shang-Chi” and “Black Widow” are helping fill up cinema halls again.Still, Aron warned of more challenges ahead and said the company needed to sell more tickets as adjusted core earnings was below pandemic levels.AMC’s shares dropped nearly 5% in extended trading, but have risen over twenty times in value so far this year, largely driven by an army of retail investors coordinating their buying on forums such as Reddit’s WallStreetBets. On a per share basis, it lost 44 cents. Analysts were expecting a 53 cents loss, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.Revenue rose to $763.2 million from $119.5 million, beating estimates of $708.3 million. “However … no one should have any illusions that there is not more challenge ahead of us still to be met. The virus continues to be with us,” Aron said. More

In September Japan’s core consumer price index (CPI) posted 0.1% growth from a year earlier, the first positive figure since March 2020, driven by rising energy and raw material costs.Inflation-adjusted real wages, a key gauge of households’ purchasing power, fell 0.6% in September compared with the same month a year earlier, the labour ministry said on Tuesday.It was the first decline in three months after a downwardly revised 0.1% gain in August, due to accelerating consumer price inflation.The CPI measurement now used by the labour ministry to calculate real wages is different from one closely watched by the Bank of Japan, as the former index still sets its base year to 2015, not 2020, and includes volatile fresh foods but excludes owners’ equivalent rent.This version of CPI posted 0.9% year-on-year growth in September, the fastest pace since December 2019.Nominal total cash earnings rose for the seventh straight month, up 0.2% in September from a year earlier. It followed a downwardly revised 0.6% advance in August.Regular pay, or base salary, which makes up most of total cash earnings, was up 0.3% after an upwardly revised 0.5% rise the previous month, the data showed.Overtime pay, a barometer of strength in corporate activity, grew 4.4% year-on-year in September, gaining for the sixth straight month but slowing from double-digit figures in three months to July. The apparent slowdown came largely from a statistical effect reflecting narrower drops in the months toward the end of 2020, a government official said.Special payments, which mainly consist of volatile one-off bonuses, fell 2.3% in September from a year earlier, according to the data.The following table shows preliminary data for monthly incomes and numbers of workers in September:—————————————————————-Payments (amount) (yr/yr % change)Total cash earnings 270,019 yen($2,382.17) +0.2-Monthly wage 263,276 yen +0.3-Regular pay 245,835 yen +0.1-Overtime pay 17,441 yen +4.4-Special payments 6,743 yen -2.3—————————————————————-Number of workers (million) (yr/yr % change)Overall 51.927 mln +1.1-General employees 35.710 mln +0.8-Part-time employees 16.217 mln +1.7—————————————————————-The ministry defines “workers” as 1) those who were employed for more than one month at a company that employed more than five people, or 2) those who were employed on a daily basis or had less than a one-month contract but had worked more than 18 days during the two months before the survey was conducted, at a company that employs more than five people.To view the full tables, see the labour ministry’s website at: http://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/database/db-l/index.html($1 = 113.3500 yen) More