Tuesday, 23 March, 2021
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[email protected] URL: www.uob.com.sg/research Markets Overview HIGHLIGHTS AHEAD . Attention this evening will be on US Federal Reserve Chairman Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen who are scheduled to make their first joint appearance before the US House Financial Services committee to testify on Fed and Treasury pandemic policies. Then on Wednesday (24 Mar), both Powell and Yellen will take part in a remote hearing before the Senate Banking Committee on the quarterly CARES Act report to Congress. Powell is likely to reiterate that the recovery is gaining steam and there’s still a long way to go, while the Fed plans to support for the recovery "for as long as its takes" as the economy remains below pre-pandemic levels, according to the release of his prepared testimony to Congress on Tuesday. For the day ahead, data releases include Richmond Fed manufacturing index for Mar (Bloomberg Est 15 from 14 in Feb). The Asian docket today is relatively sparse, and will include Singapore’s February CPI data at 1pm SGT, where market estimates pencil a year-on-year increase of 0.6% (+0.4% m/m nsa). Taiwan is also slated to release its industrial production data for February 2021, where estimates point at a growth of 7.7% y/y, up from January’s surge of +18.8% y/y. CENTRAL BANK OUTLOOK . US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Monday that cryptocurrencies remain an unstable store of value and the central bank is no hurry to introduce a competitor.