Forex news for North American trading on August 1, 2017:
- June PCE core 1.5% vs +1.4% y/y expected
- ISM July US manufacturing index 56.3 vs 56.4 expected
- Markit US July final manufacturing index 53.3 vs 53.2 expected
- GM US auto sales flop in July
- Canada July Markit manufacturing PMI 55.5 vs 54.7 prior
- June PCE core 1.5% vs +1.4% y/y expected
- Trump celebrates 2.6% GDP growth, says it was "so much higher than anticipated"
- US auto sales slump to 16.73m pace in July - Autodata
- Mexico outlines aims for NAFTA agreement
- Fonterra GDT price index -1.6%
- US June construction spending -1.3% vs. 0.4% estimate.
Markets:
- Gold flat at $1269
- WTI crude down 95-cents to $49.21
- S&P 500 up 6 points to 2476
- US 10-year yields down 4.2 bps
The month started out with a whimper for the most part but there was some moves. Notably, the euro reversed earlier gains because of dropping yields in Germany, France and Italy. The commodity currencies were under pressure, especially the Canadian dollar on falling oil.
The slate of US data didn't have much effect, although weak car sales caused some worries. USD/JPY dropped down to 109.91 from 110.55 in a relatively quick move but recovered to 110.36 late to finished essentially unchanged.
EUR/USD tried to take out 1.1840 twice in North American trade but couldn't and fell to 1.1790 on the first dip and is currently at 1.1802 after a second rally was snuffed out.
Cable traded in a 1.3200 to 1.3240 range as the market looks ahead to the BOE decision.
The Australian dollar remained on the back foot after the RBA decision. There were plenty of worries about wage inflation in the statement and that was a negative.
USD/CAD climbed for the second consecutive day. It was the first two-day climb since July 9/10 and it erased Friday's drop on the super-strong GDP data. From here, resistance at 1.2578 will be the level to watch.