China unexpectedly announced a decoupling of the yuan from the dollar, allowing the yuan to rise or fall as much as 0.3 percent a day from an official mid-point, which is determined in a veil of secrecy by the People's Bank of China. The yuan was immediately revalued at 8.11 per dollar, but closed slightly down, at 8.1111--a trading range that is incredibly slight by most currency market standards, but which represents a much wider range for the yuan than the last decade has seen. Washington displayed cautious optimism.
One interesting and immediate impact: Bonds across the curve all rose a handful of basis points.