Forex news for February 19, 2015 US edition
- Germany says Greek bailout extension request should be rejected
- US initial jobless claims 283k vs 293k exp
- February 2015 US Philly Fed business index 5.2 vs 9.3 exp
- US Jan leading index +0.2% vs +0.3% expected
- Eurozone consumer -6.7 vs -7.5 expected
- IMF says fund is ready to work with EU partners and Greece
- US crude oil inventories 7.71m vs 3.05m expected
- Cote: Next BOC decision will be based on careful examination of economy
- Weidmann says ECB didn't discuss capital controls
- US 30-year TIPS sell at 0.842% vs 0.868% WI
- Cable could easily rise above 1.60 on rate shift - SocGen
- Gold down $5 to $1207
- S&P down 2 points to 2097
- US 10-year yields up 4 bps to 2.12%
- USD leads, CHF lags
The FOMC minutes were the story yesterday but the market had second thoughts today and got back to buying US dollars. The risk trade wasn't much of a factor and economic data led only to some small blips.
EUR/USD was driven by the ebb-and-flow of Greece but aside from that, what really stood out was that the market isn't jumping on the headlines. Looks like traders don't want to place their bets until the dust settles. In the big picture, yesterday's rejection of 1.1450 keeps us firmly in the range. Last at 1.1365.
Cable generally kept pace with the US dollar, which is sort-of a win. It's consolidating after a strong move yesterday and it was an 'inside day'. Last at 1.5413.
USD/JPY rebounded from yesterday's losses. Talk of the BOJ lowering its inflation target weakened the pair earlier because it means less QE from Japan but the US dollar got a footing and higher bond yields helped a move up to 119.17 before US traders arrived but it faded back 20 pips from there.
USD/CAD jumped on a flush out in oil overnight and hit 1.2545 but sagged back as oil made a strong rebound. USD/CAD is a pure oil trade at the moment but Canadian retail sales on Friday could change that (at least for a moment).
The best trend in the market at the moment is the rally in EUR/CHF. It was up for the third day in a row (and 8 of 9). It's now flirting with 1.0800.
If you get a chance, Reuters has a good summary on the EU-Greek talks. Here is the short version, "As the biggest creditor and EU paymaster, Germany has the clout to block a deal and cast Greece adrift without a financial lifeline, potentially pushing it towards the euro zone exit. But officials in other capitals saw the German response as tactical and forecast agreement by the weekend after more wrangling."
Speaking of wraps
You can now find all the latest wraps with the new link in the 'Don't miss' section or by using the dropdown under 'More' in the navigation bar.
