January 14, 2015: The CHF and EUR are the strongest. The NZD is the weakest.
The markets continue to be jittery as global economy and global stock markets remain front and center. European major indices are down -1.55% (UK FTSE) to around -2.44% (CAC. The German Dax is down -2.23% currently). The BOE kept rates unchanged. Overnight the Australian employment change came in at -1K vs -11k estimate.
The strongest currency is the CHF. It was the EUR when i first took a snapshot but the EUR has reversed in the last few minutes against the dollar - and most other major currencies as well (headlines from the ECB meeting were more dovish than expectations). The weakest currency is the NZD. For that currency, the risk off and technicals seem to be a driver. The NZDUSD moved below the 100 day MA (blue line in the chart below) last week (on Friday). Yesterday, the pair peeked above the key MA at the 0.6579 level and failed. Today, the momentum lower continued. It did find support against the low from November. The 50% retracement was broken on the way down and is now resistance at 0.64815. Stay below and the bears remain in control.
The US unemployment claims are due out at 8:30 AM ET with expectations of 275K vs. 277K along with Import prices (-1.4%). . Feds Bullard will also be speaking at that time and Canadian new home price index will be released estimate +0.2%). There is a 30-year bond auction.