Forex trading news for April 22, 2015, US edition:
- SNB says there will be fewer exemptions from negative interest rates
- March 2015 US existing home sales 5.19m vs 5.03m exp
- Eurozone April consumer confidence -4.6 vs -2.75 exp
- US EIA crude oil inventories 5.3m vs 2.7m exp
- EIA sees longer-term US production continuing to rise
- Greek state min Pappas says they want a deal with lenders but "not just any agreement"
- SNB's Danthine says EURCHF 1.20 cap was a temporary measure
- February 2015 US FHFA HPI 0.7% vs 0.5% exp m/m
- US MBA mortgage market index 458.4 vs 448.2 prior
- S&P 500 up 11 points to 2107
- WTI crude down 40 cents to $56.21
- Gold down $15 to $1187
- US 10-year yields up 7 bps to 1.98%
- GBP leads, CHF lags
The Swiss franc was the focus of US trading. It's been relentlessly strong over the past few weeks and talk started to circulate about what the SNB could do next. They delivered by introducing negative rates on a wider variety of accounts. EUR/CHF began to inch higher early in Europe after the comments from Danthine but ripped to 1.0365 from 1.0285 on the deposit news. It wasn't done there as it continued to grind up to 1.0425 in a steady move.
The euro itself wasn't a big mover. The rally in Europe was mostly faded but the time US traders arrived and they continued to sell down to a session low of 1.0709. It bounced to 1.0745 and then chopped within the bottom of the range.
The pound absolutely roared in Europe on hawkish talk in the BOE minutes and was trading at the highs at 1.5079 as US traders arrived. It started lower from there and the existing home sales data weighed further in a slip to 1.5011. Last at 1.5035.
USD/JPY consolidated a gain in Asian trading. Repeated tests of 120.00 ran into sellers but retracements slipped back to only 119.80. A selloff in Treasuries was great news for the bulls.
The Australian dollar wasn't able to capitalize on the CPI numbers or a rebound in iron ore. There was a steady downtrend the crested at 0.7746 after the home sales data and then bounced to 0.7775 but a late slide has sagged back to 0.7753. Looks soft.
USD/CAD has been volatility central but oil was a tad quieter today and the chop was limited from 1.2260 to 1.2220 with plenty of back-and-forth.
Gold took a hit. There was a broad flight away from safety and gold was caught up in the mix; sliding down to $1187 then a dead cat bounce to $1191 but finishing near the lows.
