Forex news for August 13, 2015:
- US July retail sales control group +0.3% vs +0.5% expected
- Initial jobless claims 274K vs 270K expected
- US business inventories up 0.8% compared to 0.3% expected
- Economists see 60% probability of Sept Fed hike - poll
- Canada June new housing price index +0.3% vs +0.1% expected
- US household debt largely unchanged in Q2 - NY Fed
- Bill Gross says stock buybacks a sign of 'capitalism in reverse'
- Atlanta Fed GDPNow Q3 forecast lowered to 0.7% from 1.0%
- US 30-year bond auction 2.880% vs 2.860% WI
- Gold down $9 to $1115
- WTI crude down $1.12 to $42.17
- S&P 500 down 3 points to 2083
- GBP and USD lead, NZD lags
Retail sales were the economic highlight but they weren't good enough to keep a US dollar rally going. EUR/USD fell after the report and hit a session low at 1.1080 but that was the bottom for the day and it was a steady climb to 1.1154 from there.
USD/JPY tried to move higher on the report but it was tucked in a tight range. It also climbed on the soft bond auction but neither move got any traction and it finishes near 124.40 after trading in a 35 pip range on either side of it in US trading.
Cable took a hit in European trading but it spent US hours fighting back. A 2.2B option expiration in EUR/GBP was a likely driver earlier and cable climbed back to 1.5616 later in the day.
USD/CAD came under some heavy selling pressure as oil was falling. In a generally quiet session it sprung to 1.3091 from 1.3000 as oil broke down but later it showed some life by holding the highs even as oil touched through $42.
The Australian dollar was resilient even when the US dollar was at its strongest today. Big bids near 0.7325 held on a few occasions and then the pair grinded higher to 0.7366 in US trading. A speech from the RBA's Kent is due later.
The kiwi wasn't so fortunate as it struggled in Asia/Europe and then stayed close to the session low of 0.6550 in New York trading. One of the reasons for the weakness was a downgrade to Fonterra.
EUR/CHF was an interesting case. From 1.0880 it fell down to 1.0825 but quickly attracted a bid and finished back where it started. It's been (and remains) tough to explain moves in that pair.
