- Stocks in the US close lower
- White House considers two Obama-era economists for Fed vice-chair
- WTI crude oil futures settle at $73.95
- RBNZ Orr: There are some early signs that inflation is abating
- FOMC meeting minutes: A few participants favored raising rates by 50 basis points
- U.S. Treasury auctions off $43 billion of 5 year notes at a high yield of 4.109%
- FOMC meeting minutes to be released at 2 PM ET. Fed hiked by 25 bps to 4.5%-4.75% target
- European indices close lower on the day
- How to trade the news
- Reuters:Russia is intending cut crude exports from its western ports by 1/4 in March/April
- NZDUSD buyers try to stay above the 100 hour MA
- Canada January new housing price index -0.2% vs 0.0% prior
- Forexlive European FX news wrap 22 Feb || Hawkward...
- The NZD is the strongest and the AUD is the weakest as the NA session begins
- Fed's Bullard: His projection has rates reaching 5.375%
The markets were mixed today as yields moved lower, major stock indices were mixed and the USD was mostly higher. The FOMC meeting minutes today showed that a few members favored a 50 bp hike. The market already knew of Mester and Bullard. A "few" is more than a couple. So there seem to be more lurking.
The market still expects 25 basis points at the next meeting, but with the jobs still strong and inflation sticky, there is room for more upside potential going forward and that is helping to keep the USD elevated.
Looking at the US dollar, the NZD was the strongest of the major currencies, while it's sister currency, the AUD was the weakest (the AUDNZD fell -0.75%).
The NZD got a boost from the RBNZ rate hike of 50 bps to 4.75%. The central bank is expecting to continuing the tightening process as the cyclone is expected to keep labor tight and prices high or higher. They are still forecasting a terminal rate of 5.5%.
The USD was mostly higher with modest declines only vs the NZD and the JPY. The USD was up the most vs the AUD and the GBP.
Versus the AUD, the AUDUSD fell below the 200 day MA at 0.68037 on its way to a low of 0.6794. The pair has the 38.2% of the move up from the October 2022 cycle low not much lower at 0.67798. The current price is trading at 0.6803 going into the close.
The GBPUSD today, pushed the 200 hour MA at 1.20648 on a number of occasions without finding momentum. Finally, in the last few hours of trading, the sellers finally was able to push lower and take the price to the 100 hour MA at 1.2039 where price action stalled once again.
Despite the stronger dollar today, yields did not help contribute to the rise. Nevertheless, they are ending off the lows for the day
- 2 year 4.469 -3.4 bps
- 5 year 4.153%, -2.3 bps
- 10 year 3.921%, -3.5 bps
- 30 year 3.916%, -5.8 bps
In the stock market today, the major indices closed mixed.
- Dow -0.26%
- S&P -0.16%
- Nasdaq rose 0.13%
The Nasdaq index snapped a three day down streak with the modest gain. The S&P extended its losing streak to 4 days today.
