Forex news for North American trade on October 2, 2020:
- US September non-farm payrolls +661K vs +875K expected
- Trump symptoms are mild and cold-like so far - report
- Mike Pence and Joe Biden test negative for COVID-19
- Pelosi says significant disagreement remains on relief bill
- Mnuchin and Pelosi spoke for 65 mins today, talks will continue
- Kudlow: We are in the neighborhood of $1.5T for stimlus
- Pelosi agreement 'imminent' for airline aid
- Fed's Kashkari: Long way to go on US economic recovery
- Baker Hughes oil rig count rises to 189 vs. 183 last week
- Republican Senator Mike Lee tests positive for COVID
- UK Brexit negotiator: Though differences remain, there are outlines of an agreement
- University of Michigan sentiment index 80.4 vs. 79.0
- August US factory orders +0.7% vs +0.9% expected
- Fed's Harker: Will accept periods of above 2% inflation after long periods of sub-2%
- Madrid and nine nearby cities to enter partial lockdown today
Markets:
- Gold down $3 to $1902
- US 10-year yields up 1.3 bps to 0.69%
- WTI crude oil down $1.70 to $37.02
- S&P 500 down 38 points to 3354
- GBP leads, AUD lags
It was a wild ride in markets as the market digested the Trump virus news. Initial market flight was overdone and there was a bounce as New York arrived but it didn't really get going until Pelosi expressed some optimism on a stimulus bill.
From there it was back-and-forth on that with many mixed up or misinterpreted headlines thrown in.
In general, it remained more of an equity trade than FX. The US dollar clawed back some losses against the yen but otherwise the FX market hardly moved during New York trade aside from some chop.
