- Macro themes continue to play out; ECB to exit ahead of Fed, Central banks buying gold, China not likely to cave to EU demands for Yuan revaluation
- ECB may use floating rate on next 1-year refi: Bloomberg
- US jobless claims fall 35,000 to 466,000; lowest in 14 months
- US Personal income rises 0.2%, spending up 0.4% in October, Savings rate 4.4%
- US durable goods orders slip 0.6% in October
- US new home sales rise 6.2% in October; much stronger than expected
- University of Michigan consumer sentiment 67.4 in November
- ECB’s Nowotny: Not all measures still needed; will be phased out, liquidity drained
- IMF to tell Eurogroup Euro overvalued versus dollar
- US Mint sold out of American Eagle gold coins
- MPC’s Sentance: UK out of recession
- Eurozone source: Don’t expect immediate action on currencies from China
- Gold reaches new all-time high at $1191.50; Sri Lanka buys 10 tons of IMF gold
- oil rallies 2.5% late to $77.87; US yields slide despite weak dollar on strong 7-yr note auction
- S&P 500 rises 0.4% to 1110, new 2009 closing high
The macro themes that have been in play for the last several sessions continued today. The ECB is seen backing off the monetary accelerator pedal in the months ahead while the Fed keeps it floored.
EUR/USD jumped to 1.5096 at midday in London and consolidated those gains until mid-afternoon in New York when it broke to fresh 2009 highs at 1.5144. News that Eurogroup officials see no immediate action from China to adjust exchange rates ahead of their visit this weekend and huge gold demand from central banks helped send EUR/USD above 1.5100 barriers in thin afternoon markets ahead of tomorrow’s US holiday.
USD/JPY fell within a whisper of pivotal support at 87.11, bottoming at 87.22 before stabilizing in the 87.30s. Heavy stops are rumored below 87.00 barriers. Offers lie at 88.00 on rebounds.
USD/CAD was weighed down by Russian comments that they will diversify a portion of their reserves into the Loonie. It fell as low as 1.0450, where we end the session.
AUD/USD was a bit of laggard considering the gold-led nature of today’s rally, holding shy of 2009 highs above 0.94. We end at 0.9320.
USD/CHF closed below 1.00 for the first time since April of 2008. Keep an eye on important 1.5075 support in EUR/CHF. If the SNB halts its intervention, a big CHF rally could erupt.
Have a great Thanksgiving, all our US readers and American ex-pats abroad! Back on Friday for me. Gerry and Sean will be here for the duration…