Forex news for US trading on May 15, 2017
- May US Empire Fed manufacturing index -1.0 vs +7.3 expected
- NAHB May US housing market index 70 vs 68 expected
- Canada April existing home sales -1.7% vs +1.1% prior
- Macron says eurozone treaty changes no longer taboo, Merkel agrees
- BOC's Poloz: Home Capital is contained, the financial system is strong
- ECB's Angeloni: Bank still need to improve lending practices and dispose of NPLs
- French President Macron names Edouard Philippe as Prime Minister
- ECB's Praet: ECB doesn't see much evolution on wage pressures
Markets:
- S&P 500 up 9.5 points to 2400
- Gold up $3 to $1231
- US 10-year yields up 1.6 bps to 2.34%
- WTI crude up $1.00 to $48.84
- CAD leads, JPY lags
The US dollar drift was back in fashion on Monday. The trade is to buy the dollar when nothing is going on and watch it slowly climb higher. It was the basic theme Monday as USD/JPY grinded to 113.80 from 113.50. Cable and the commodity currencies also lost ground in US trading while the euro held its ground.
The headlines that roiled the market in Asia were about an OPEC quota extension until March 2018. That sent oil quickly higher and it continued as US traders arrived. As a result, USD/CAD dropped to 1.3600 from 1.3675.
But the move fizzled as US equities (and ETFs) opened. That's when crude peaked at $49.66 and slowly began to retrace, by the end of the day it had given up half the gains to finish at $48.80. In turn, USD/CAD rebounded to 1.3630 from 1.3600.
The big figures were in play elsewhere. EUR/USD climbed up to 1.0990 but was shy ahead of 1.1000. In cable, the high was 1.2941 with the market still wary of 1.30. By the end of the day it sagged down to 1.2900.
AUD/USD was the high flyer earlier despite Asia worries but after hitting 0.7445, it sagged back to 0.7415.
