Forex headlines for October 1, 2013:
- No signs of a thaw in Washington
- Many signs point to PDL support for Letta
- September US ISM manufacturing PMI 56.2 vs 55.0 exp
- RBC Canadian manufacturing PMI 54.2 vs 52.1 prior
- September US Markit manufacturing PMI final 52.8 vs 52.8 prior
- US light vehicle sales fell 4.2% in September
- Canadian economy to grow in 2-2.5% range Q3 2013 from 3.8% says BOC
- US construction spending data delayed due to shutdown
- The Swiss peg frontrunning wife of former SNB president let off the hook
- S&P 500 up 0.8% to 1695
- Gold down $41 to $1288
- AUD leads, NZD lags
It was a choppy day as the market weighed the government shutdown. The dollar was generally stronger but on the day it ends mostly flat.
USD/JPY chopped lower but didn’t seriously threaten the European lows. A late bounce in risk appetite sent it back to 98.00 from below 97.80.
AUD was the top performer but the entirety of the move came right after the RBA statement. It eased back at the start of US trading and chopped tightly around 0.9390.
Gold was the biggest move of the day. After rising early in Europe it went into freefall as US traders filtered in. A minor import tariff hike in India spooked some traders but this one was down to technicals, flows and fear. The bounce was almost nil and we close at the lows of the day.