Forex headlines for May 28, 2014:
- US 10-year yields fall 8 bps to 10-month low at 2.43%
- French jobseekers rise to record in April
- ECB warns on unwinding investment flows due to reach for yield
- Russia month-over-month growth was flat in March and +0.1% in April
- Russia calls for ‘emergency steps’ to stop Ukraine bloodshed
- Obama will announce more support for Syrian opposition in speech later
- Deutsche Bank finds trading irregularities in fx probe
- Gold down $6 to $1258
- WTI crude down $1.25 to $102.86
- S&P 500 down 2 points to 1910
- JPY leads, NZD lags
EUR/USD broke a touted option barrier at 1.3600 but there wasn’t much follow through as the low of 1.3589 came early in the US afternoon. There wasn’t much of a rebound either as the pair continues to skid along the bottom. Talk of bids at 1.3880 and 1.3870.
USD/JPY fell to a one-week low at 101.64 in a quick dip as bond yields broke 2.50%. Oddly as yields continued to fall the pair stabilized and it tracked back to 101.86. Almost makes you think an invisible hand is at work.
The initial fall in yields sparked a broad 10 pip drop in the US dollar but one place where USD weakness was unwelcome was against the pound. Cable was on life support in US trading as it touched (barely) below 1.6700, that didn’t cause any further selling but bounces have been nil. It feels like someone is unwinding a large cable long.
One spot to watch is EUR/JPY as it tests the 200-dma at 138.30. The first attempt has bounced up to 138.46 but the pair is down 60 pips today.
The commodity bloc wasn’t the most exciting spot to be but USD/CAD made a foray higher late in the day, up to 1.0886 from 1.0850. Earlier it looked like CAD would be able to resist a strong USD but alas, it was dragged down along with the kiwi and Aussie.
Oil fell late in the day ahead of supply data. Longs are nervous with API numbers on the docket.
fx performance vs USD today
