Oil prices are within about a dollar of multi-year lows, prompting traders to start paying attention again. Oil prices have been out of ficus of late due to distortions in the market that make the front-month contract price very cheap relative to the rest of the futures strip. That situation remains but the whole complex is being dragged lower at the moment by near-record inventories and still-weak industrial demand as the global economy continues to flag. Futres havn’t settled yet, but they will likely end on a $33 dollar handle.
USD/CAD is building a beachhead on the 1.25-handle, a level it usually tags and then runs away from like a scalded cat. That could be a sign that risk aversion is set to rise and reflation trades taken earlier in the week will soon be offloaded. The ZAR was sold heavily earlier in the session, an early warning sign of what was to come for the CAD.