Forex news for US trading on October 9, 2015:

  • Canadian September employment +12.1K vs +10.0K expected
  • Fed's Fischer: We need to be confident that inflation will return to 2%
  • Fed's Dudley wanted more information at time of Sep FOMC
  • SNB's Jordan says CHF now not equally strongly overvalued
  • Draghi says Eurozone is showing signs of resilience
  • ECB's Visco: Growth is slowing down at the world level
  • Baker Hughes oil rig count 605 vs 614 prior
  • China is slowing but it's not in meltdown says the IMF
  • August 2015 US wholesale inventories 0.1% vs 0.0% exp m/m
  • Fed's Evans: Could be appropriate to keep rates below 1% at end 2016
  • September 2015 US import prices -0.1% vs -0.5% exp m/m
  • Fed's Lockhart: We're waiting for the market to tell us what to do
  • Japanese fin min Aso: Economy expected to recovery modestly
  • Barclays and Goldman Sachs lower US Q3 GDP estimates
  • UK's Osborne: Risks to the global economy are rising
  • Bank of Canada business outlook for future sales +16 vs +4 exp
  • S&P downgrades Catalonia to "BB-" due to political tension - Outlook - negative
  • CFTC Commitments of Traders report: US dollar longs pared
  • How Federal Reserve rate hike expectations changed this week

Markets:

  • Gold up $18 to $1157
  • WTI crude up 20-cents to $49.63
  • US 10-year yields down 1.7 bps to 2.09%
  • S&P 500 up 1.5 points to 2015
  • AUD leads, JPY lags on the day

The Australian dollar was the story of the week as topped the charts once again on Friday despite climbing in the seven previous sessions. In US trading it didn't add much to the narrative as the high came at 0.7344 a couple hours before NY ramped up. There was a bit of a wedge consolidation pattern afterwards with 0.7309 as the low.

The Canadian dollar was more of a player in the commodity bloc. USD/CAD hit a two month low at 1.2900 ahead of the jobs report then chopped up to 1.2935 immediately before the numbers. When the pair was released it fell on the headline but the details were weak and the pair the rallied to 1.2990, which was the high of the day. It was aided by oil giving back the entirety of what had been a $1.40 gain. The pair then fell on the BOC business outlook survey, skidding down to 1.2915. The report had some soft details as well and USD/CAD chopped on the ebb and flow of oil up to 1.2940.

EUR/USD continues to impress. It held a good bid in Europe as it rose to 1.1345 from 1.1275 in a relatively quick move. There were no big headlines behind the moves but Draghi and Visco's comments highlight the lack of consensus about more ECB easing. What was most impressive about the euro was how it got one final bid after Europe went him to hit 1.1345 to the best weekly close since Aug 21.

USD/JPY was in a very tight range in US trading, in part due to the lack of volatility in stocks. There was a bid up to 120.35 from 120.15 in Europe but it was a 15-pip range in US trading.

Cable was the disappointment of the day. It hit a fresh two-week high in Europe at 1.5384 then began to sag before US traders arrived and extended down to 1.5300 from there on selling into the UK close. It bounced to 1.5340 but in the past two hours another set of sellers appeared and took it down to 1.5305.