Forex news for New York trading on February 2, 2017

  • Canada December retail sales -0.5% vs 0.0% expected
  • FOMC Minutes: Officials saw hike 'fairly soon' if economy on track
  • Here is the key passage in the FOMC Minutes
  • BOE's Shafik finishes her BOE term with a rant about experts
  • Fed's Powell asked if March hike is on the table, says 'yes'
  • Powell: We must first get 'well away' from zero rates before shrinking balance sheet
  • Fed's Powell: Rate hike path based on economy roughly meeting forecast
  • Marine Le Pen's chief of staff put under formal investigation in EU fake jobs probe
  • Le Pen continues to make headway in polls
  • ECB's Hansson: We need more months with positive inflation surprises
  • Trump: Healthcare plan will get moving in early-to-mid March
  • Euro jumps after Macron's French Presidential hopes get a lift
  • Mexican economy grew 2.3% in 2016
  • Belgian February business confidence -1.1 vs +0.9 expected
  • First OPEC/non-OPEC monitoring committee report is "very encouraging"

Markets:

  • Gold up $2 to $1237
  • WTI crude down 79-cents to $53.54
  • S&P 500 down 2 points to 2363
  • US 10-year yields down 1 bps to 2.42%
  • JPY leads, GBP lags

The FOMC Minutes offered some hints that a rate hike is coming 'fairly soon' but that wasn't enough for the market and the US dollar sold off in the aftermath of the report. USD/JPY dropped to 113.00 from 113.60 after the release to erase what had been a slow rise throughout New York trade.

EUR/USD is set to finish at the highs of the day near 1.0570 after falling below 1.05 earlier to the worst levels since Jan 11. The euro was also boosted by Bayrou's support of Macron as the French Presidential election looms large.

USD/CAD jumped after soft Canadian December retail sales. It was the worst report in 9 months and the pair kicked up to 1.3210 but technical resistance there in the form of the Feb high capped the move and it was a slow slide from there back to 1.3150 with most of it coming after the Fed minutes.

Cable was on the back foot for most of the day. It started the day flirting with 1.2500 but dropped as low as 1.2415 in US afternoon trading before recovering to 1.2455 after the Fed minutes. In the bigger picture, the daily ranges continue to narrow as politics and Brexit push and pull.

AUD/USD is on track to close above 77-cents for only the second time since the US election. The pair was trading sideways around 0.7685 and climbed 30 pips on the Fed minutes.