- ECB’s Asmussen says feel the power of OMT
- Canadian April manufacturing sales -2.4% vs +0.3% exp, 4th fall in 5 months
- US Q1 current account widens to -$106.1bn vs -$109.7bn exp
- US May PPI rises to 1.7% from 1.4% exp y/y, Energy prices get most of the blame.
- US May industrial output 0.0% vs 0.2% exp. Capacity utilisation falls to 77.6% from 77.9%
- Japan and China reduce treasury holdings by $14bn each. Total foreign buying falls $54.5bn
- G8 leaders draft says vulnerabilities remain for world economy in 2013
- US June consumer sentiment crumbles to 82.7 vs 84.5 exp
- EU document cites actions on direct bank recapitalisations, EU sources say €60bn of ESM to be put aside for recapping
- US ECRI index rises to 131.3 vs 130.9 prior
- IMF lowers US growth to 2.7% from 3.0% in 2014, leaves 2013 forecast unchanged
- BOE’s McCafferty notes improving animal spirits
- IMF’s Lagarde ignores the figures and announces US recovery is gaining ground, then she gives us her insights on Fed tapering
- Detroit defaults on debt
- White house expects G8 to agree that growth and jobs are a priority and to reign in tax cheats
- Euro shorts chuck in the towel while the cheese squad gets peckish
The US rolled into town in fairly quiet circumstances.
The early figures didn’t add much to events and it wasn’t until the IMF report lowering US growth forecasts that things picked up.
USD/JPY fell out of bed from 95.11 and didn’t hit the floor until 94.42. It managed to clamber back up into bed at 94.75 before falling out again as Nikkei futures tripped up and went down like a sack of spuds. This time the floor was at 94.25 but the pair had had enough sleeping and went downstairs to test 94.00. It managed 2 pips lower before spending the rest of the day annoying everyone between 94.00 and 94.50.
EUR/USD spent the European session crawling down to 1.33 before spending the US session crawling back up again. It managed to reach 1.3350 before a touch of vertigo saw it skitter back down to 1.3313. A couple of pills and a glass of water later and it was on it’s way again but then decided to make case camp for the weekend between 1.3330/40. A late run has taken us to 1.3350 but the dizzy spells are back and we’re at 1.3345
GBP/USD was still walking the tightrope at 1.5700 but needed more practice as it kept falling off. We look to close out the day above though as we touch a session high of 1.5710
AUD/USD went away for the weekend after falling from 0.9656 but didn’t lock the door at 0.9600 so someone got in and kept the price below for the afternoon. 0.9570 was the lowest we got with 0.9600 capping any attempt higher. We finish down at 0.9585
Swiss pairs went Jack and Jill, down the hill, on the risk off sentiment with the euro falling below 1.2300 to 1.2277 and the dollar from 0.9253 to 0.9196. Both recovered seemingly unharmed with the euro moving back into 1.2300 and the dollar back into 0.9200 but the euro looks to close a few pips under 1.2300
US stocks opened in the red and at one point looked to be heading for the trap door. We steadied in the late afternoon but attempts at a recovery were too much and we close the week down.
Thank you to all the fantastic readers for your thoughts, comments, charts and making it a pleasure to work here.
Hope you all have a spiffing weekend.
