Forex news for North American trade on December 6, 2017
- Bank of Canada holds rates at 1.00%, as expected
- Full text of the Bank of Canada decision December 6, 2017
- November ADP US employment 190K vs 190K expected
- US Q3 non-farm productivity final 3.0% vs 3.3% exp
- Q3 Canada labour productivity -0.6% vs -0.1% prior
- Brazil cuts benchmark lending rate by 50 bps to 7.00%
- Moody's says ECB bond purchases lowered 10-year eurozone yields 50-150 bps
- Bitcoin breaks $13,000 as the frenzy continues
- Flynn told a business associate Russian sanctions would be 'ripped up' - report
- Trump: It is time to officially recognize Jerusalem as capital of Israel
- May and Varadkar agree on 'paramount importance' of no hard border
- Trump: I see no reason we can't get to 4%, 5% or 6% GDP
- Hammond: Productivity isn't the problem; it's measuring productivity
- US EIA weekly oil inventories -5610K vs -2500K expected
- DUP: Irish gov't playing a dangerous game
Markets:
- Gold down $1 to $1264
- S&P 500 flat at 2628
- US 10-year yields down 2.7 bps to 2.32%
- WTI crude oil down $1.69 to $55.92
- JPY leads, CAD lags
The market was leaning towards a hawkish bank of Canada or even a surprise rate hike but the BOC opted to maintain the status quo, including a line that they would be cautious about raising rates. USD/CAD was at 1.2660 before the announcement and rose as high as 1.2807 before finishing at 1.2788. The weakness in oil didn't help the loonie.
The other commodity currencies fell in sympathy with AUD/USD down to 0.7563 from 0.7590 and skidding along the bottom late.
EUR/USD was soft for the second day. Yesterday bids at 1.1800 halted the selling but today the bears broke through in a slide down to 1.1781, which was also below the 100-dma. From there, the pair bounced a dozen pips to close out the day.
USD/JPY had a slight upward bias in US hours after a slide in Asia and Europe. The pair climbed to 112.35 but as generally choppy in a 30 pip range.
Cable sat near the European lows but didn't fall below as bids at 1.3350 held. The market is anxiously awaiting word on whether there will be an Irish border deal.
