PBOC are rumoured to conduct MLF today

In stimulus measures by the Chinese, battling with the risks of the coronavirus, it is rumoured that medium-term lending facilities of six to twelve-month loans to banks from the People's Bank of China are expected to start today with lowered rats of borrowing for banks. 

Meanwhile, China's Hubei province, the epicentre of the coronavirus epidemic, reported 1,933 new cases and 100 new deaths on Feb. 16, the local health authority said on Monday. The Hubei health commission said the total number of cases in the province had reached 58,182 by the end of Sunday, with 1,696 deaths.

The province announced tough new measures to try to curb the outbreak on Sunday, ordering its cities to block roads to all private vehicles. Athe same time, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) has released new measures on Sunday to try and mitigate the impact caused by the novel coronavirus outbreak, as well as help businesses resume production and improve the country's foreign trade conditions, the GAC said in a statement.

FX implications

The US dollar has been strong on the 99 handle in the DXY although, in conjunction with such headlines as this,  the CRB index is on the brink of confirming a bullish trend according to the daily 8 close vs 8 open moving average cross over which likely supports the case of higher commodity-FX, such as CAD, AUD and NZD.