Chart Of The Day: Why The Yuan Will Likely Be Volatile This Week

 | Jan 28, 2019 11:01AM ET

While there are a multitude of market forces and outlooks at play, China seems to be at the focal point of them all: a trade war and a contracting Chinese economy, creating a knock-on effect on big tech and prompting warnings of lower profits. Given that four of the five biggest tech companies in the world—Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB)—release earnings, and provide guidance this week, we can expect a lot of trading action.

Also, considering that a core point of contention between the world’s two largest economies is the charge that China manipulates its currency to gain unfair advantage in the global market, we're likely to see considerable volatility for the yuan at the same time.

The current market narrative presumes the yuan’s strengthening is due to increased demand amid a positive outlook for the Asian nation with a resolution of the trade dispute. It is possible, however, that China may be ensuring there is increased demand to ease negotiations amid a barrage of US charges. China's Vice-Premier Liu He will be in Washington January 30-31 for further trade talks, which are expected to include discussions about the country's currency policies.

The technicals indicate the continuing strong correlation with fundamentals. Prices peaked in November on news of the U.S. and Chinese Presidents' meeting in Argentina, then dropped, accelerating the rate of descent when talks began. The RSI provided observant traders with a heads-up for a reversal, when momentum dropped from late June to late October, against a rising price, which turned out to be the top.