The Tweet That Rocked Markets

A twitter hack gutted some traders and left others flush in a bizarre episode Tuesday. The US dollar was the top performer while the Swiss franc lagged on rumors of a hike in the EUR/CHF floor. The RBNZ held rates, as expected.  Ashraf is overseas and is encountering network issues impacting Premium updates. Both AUDUSD shorts and 1 of 2 GBPJPY hit all targets.EURUSD short was 30 pips near final target. USDJPY is in play and 1 silver hit final target. There will be an attempt to bring about a premium update tomorrow.

In US afternoon trading the Associated Press twitter account announced two explosions at the White House and said the President was injured. Traders hit the panic button, dumping stocks and buying yen. In a minute, the S&P 500 fell 15 points and yen crosses dropped 50-100 pips.

It turns out the twitter account was hacked and the report was fake. The gains quickly retraced but not before a few accounts were badly damaged. Events like that can be chalked up to pure luck but they're a reminder to manage risk and keep position sizes from getting too large.

Early in Asia-Pacific trading New Zealand's central bank left rates unchanged at 2.50%, as expected. The New Zealand dollar jumped a half-cent following the announcement. Governor Wheeler continued to jawbone against the NZD but his musings are having less of an effect. Comments noting that growth has improved and house price inflation rising were behind the kiwi rally.

The focus now shifts across the ditch to Australia where first quarter CPI numbers will be released at 0130 GMT. The consensus is for 2.8% y/y inflation and the trimmed mean at 2.4%.

Austrailan inflation has been trending higher since mid-2012 but real-time pricing indicators suggest pressures have eased. A knee jerk AUD reaction higher may be a selling opportunity because mining companies are cutting back and wage pressures are diminishing.