New Zealand's food price index rose 4% year-on-year in December, up from 4.4% previously.

Southbound capital saw a net outflow of HK$1.515 billion today. In the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect, China Mobile and CNOOC saw net outflows of HK$791 million and HK$666 million respectively; Alibaba-W saw the largest net inflow of HK$1.79 billion. In the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect, Xiaomi Group-W and China Life Insurance saw net outflows of HK$491 million and HK$337 million respectively; CNOOC saw the largest net inflow of HK$300 million.

US Dollar: 1. The US Supreme Court again failed to rule on the legality of Trump's tariffs. 2. US Republicans: Powell may miss his biannual congressional hearings due to the Justice Department's investigation. 3. Federal Reserve's Paulson: The current federal funds rate level is still slightly tight. A small rate cut later this year may be more appropriate. 4. Federal Reserve Governor Milan: Deregulation should put downward pressure on prices, another reason for the US central bank to cut rates. 5. Trump: Despite the Justice Department's criminal investigation into Powell, there are currently no plans to fire him. Japanese Yen: 1. The yen is approaching the level where the government last intervened in the foreign exchange market, and the Japanese Finance Minister has issued another warning. 2. Japan's top foreign exchange official, Atsushi Mimura: Appropriate action will be taken against excessive volatility, and no option is ruled out. 3. Reuters poll: 97% of economists surveyed expect the Bank of Japan to keep interest rates unchanged until March. 4. A Jiji Press poll showed that public support for the Kaohsiung City government rose slightly by 1.1 percentage points to 61.0% in January. 5. The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan agreed to form a new political party with the Komeito Party. Other: 1. US Treasury Secretary Bessenter: (Meeting with the South Korean Finance Minister) Excessive volatility in the foreign exchange market is undesirable. The depreciation of the Korean won is inconsistent with fundamentals. 2. The Bank of Korea kept its interest rate unchanged at 2.5%, removing the phrase "leaving room for rate cuts" from its policy statement. 3. The Governor of the Bank of Korea: The weakness of the Korean won is out of touch with economic fundamentals. If the goal is to stabilize the foreign exchange market through policy rates, a rate hike of approximately 200 to 300 basis points may be necessary. 4. ECB Governing Council member Kazax: Given the new risks to the economic outlook posed by the US government's pressure on the Federal Reserve, the ECB should remain vigilant. 5. The People's Bank of China decided to lower the rediscount and relending rates by 0.25 percentage points. The central bank will consider flexibly conducting government bond trading operations in the next step. 6. Zou Lan, Vice Governor of the People's Bank of China: Looking at this year, there is still some room for further reserve requirement ratio and interest rate cuts. 7. Taylor, a member of the Bank of England's policy committee: Trump's tariffs prompted exporting countries to seek alternative markets, thus alleviating inflation in the UK.