Forex news for February 23, 2015:
- Greece will delay list of reforms until Tuesday morning
- Al Jazeera and The Guardian promise biggest security leak since Snowden
- JPMorgan says next move in oil will be lower
- Mossad didn't believe Iran working on nuclear weapon - leaks
- Dow down -23.54 points. S&P -0.65 points. Nasdaq up about 5.01 points
- Retail traders unite to launch legal challenge on Saxo and call for FCA investigation
- Fed's Williams would not rule out a June rate hike - Nikkei
- EU's Dijsselbloem says he's optimistic on Greek reform letter
- UK's Cameron scaremongers over Greece and Eurozone
- January 2015 US existing home sales 4.82m vs 4.97m exp
- Israeli central bank joins the currency war
- Oil supply glut breaks technical uptrend
- January 2014 US Chicago Fed national activity index 0.13 vs 0.05 exp
- Fed's Lacker says it may already be too late to raise rates
- When aussie banks collide - National Australia Bank touts AUD/USD to head to 0.8000
- Watch the weather forecast
- EUR/GBP shorts are turning into the trade of the year
- Forex technical trading : Not much slowing the GBPUSD
The Greek letter - which was due on Monday to the "institutions" outlining their economic pledges - was delayed until Tuesday. The proposed list will include plans to fight tax evasion and corruption, and promised to reform the public sector and cut bureaucracy (one might of thought these might have been done by now, but...). They will avoid increased austerity measures. Will it work for Germany? We will see.
The strongest currency for the day was the GBP as it shrugged off a weak CBI Reported Sales (1 vs. 35 estimate and 39 last). The GBPUSD squeezed higher - peaking just short of the 1.5478 high from last week (high reached 1.5474). Weaker US existing home sales and a technical squeeze contributed to the surge higher in the pair.
The CHF was the weakest currency today, falling against all it's major counterparties. The surge in the CHF on Friday was reversed in trading today. The hopes for a Greece solution, took some of the safe haven effect away, and the fear that the SNB may look to lower rates even further to weaken the currency were contributing factors to the CHF weakness.
The dollar was mixed ahead of Janet Yellen's testimony on Capitol Hill at 10 AM ET tomorrow. The greenback was strongest against the CHF and also rose against the EUR, CAD and AUD. It fell versus Friday's close, against the GBP, JPY and NZD. Existing home sales came in weaker at 4.82M vs. 5.07M last month. This was weaker than expectations at 4.95M. The Dallas Fed manufacturing index fell to -11.2 from -4.4 last month. This was the lowest reading since April 2013.
The EURUSD bottomed in early NY trading and retraced to the 50% of the two week trading range at the 1.1359 level (NY high stalled at 1.13595). The rest of the day was spent trading back and forth in a 38 pip trading range.
The US stock market ended the session mixed. The Dow was down -23.60. The Nasdaq rose for the 9th consecutive trading session (+5.01 or 0.10%). The S&P was nearly unchanged on the day at -0.64 points or -0.03%. The Russell 2000 was also little changed.
Gold futures fell by -$3.70. Silver was little changed (+$0.20). Crude oil futures fell around -$1.40 on the day.
Focus will now turn to Chair Yellen's testimony tomorrow. Will she use the opportunity to talk more about a mid year tightening, or will she keep the market guessing? We do know that employment was better than expected since the last Fed meeting, but other data has been less inspiring. Gas prices in my neighborhood have gone up around $0.55 per gallon in the last few weeks taking back some of that windfall, and weather conditions have been brutal once again this winter.
