Forex news for NY trading on February 6, 2020
- Records all around for the major indices. Drinks on the house
- Its jobs day tomorrow in the US and Canada. What are the estimates looking for?
- WTi crude oil settles at $50.95
- USD/JPY hits 110.00 for the first time since Jan 21
- Trump vented 'apoplectic' fury at Johnson after Huawei decision
- European equity close: Another day of gains
- Chinese doctor and early coronavirus whistleblower dies
- Canada light vehicle sales +0.5% y/y in January
- SGD down for ninth day as Singapore coronavirus cases hit 30
- Fed's Kaplan: Expects US GDP to grow 2.25% this year
- ECB's Villeroy: Measures of French mortgage lending help stability
- Mnuchin: US monitoring spread of coronavirus 'very carefully'
- Wuhan city gov't says all residents must report their body temperature once per day
- US Q4 prelim non-farm productivity +1.4% vs +1.6% expected
- Initial jobless claims for 1 February week 202K vs 215K estimate him
- UK confirms third case of coronavirus
- The AUD is the strongest and the GBP is the weakest as NA traders enter for the day
It is hard not to start EVERY wrap with "US stocks close at record highs". So I won't (even though they did).
Instead, lets harp on the fact that the USD was the strongest of the majors today. Yipee!
Why? Well you can perhaps blame it on money flowing into US assets as the US is the place to be.
- Stocks indeed closed at record levels, wth the NASDAQ index up 0.67%, the S&P index up 0.33% and the Dow industrial average up 0.30% (all are all time records)
- Gold was higher by $10.80 or 0.69% at $1566.82
- WTI crude oil futures are up $0.33 or 0.65% of $51.08 silver rose 1.21%
- Even copper was up by 0.82%
In the US debt market, yields were lower out the curve. Yields fall when prices go up in US debt instruments. So there was buying there too:
- 2 year 1.447%, +0.4 basis points
- 5 year 1.4598%, -0.3 basis points
- 10 year 1.642%, -0.8 basis points
- 30 year 2.108%, -3.0 basis points
BUY! BUY! BUY! and if you are an overseas investor you need dollars to participate.
Although the dollar was higher, the gains were mostly vs the GBP. The pound was the runaway weakest of the majors today as the GBPUSD sunk by 0.59% to the lowest level since December 23/24. In the process the pair reached the 38.2% of the move up from the September low at 1.29195. The pair, however, did stall ahead of the post UK Election lows at 1.2904 area. In the new trading day, a move below the 38.2% and the 1.2904 will be eyed by the sellers. If broken, the 100 day MA at 1.28787 will be targeted. The price has not traded below the 100 day MA since October 11. Be aware.
The USDJPY today was supported by higher stocks (risk on) but could not muster momentum above the 110.00. In fact the high for the day reached 109.998 on my chart (call it 110.00). Although higher on the day, the momentum was slow as stocks were higher but yields did not give any help.
The EURUSD traded to the lowest level since October 9 and in the process fell below a swing low area at 1.09885/918 AND the singular low from November 29 at 1.09806. The low reached 109.638 and bounced back up to the 109.833. It will take a move back above 1.0992 to level (and stay above) to hurt the bearish trend.
Tomorrow is unemployment day in the US and Canada. In addition the plethora of data from the report, the annual benchmark revisions will also be released. They are being estimated to subtract 500K from the year gains. That may have an impact on the price action. So if trading the report, be aware.
