Forex news for January 26, 2015:
- OPEC’s Badri says we may be at the bottom in oil
- El Badri: Open to discussions with non-OPEC producers to balance markets
- S&P cuts Russia’s credit rating to junk
- Rumors IBM could announce the biggest corporate layoff ever this week
- IBM dismisses report about mass layoffs
- January 2015 US Dallas Fed manufacturing activity -4.4 vs +3.0 exp
- ECB ramping up very slowly on Sept QE program
- No script available for Greek exit says Dijsselbloem
- TD forecasts another Bank of Canada rate cut
- Gold down $14 to $1279
- WTI down 45-cents to $45.15
- S&P 500 up 5 points 2057
- CHF lags, GBP leads
With New York bracing for a blizzard, markets were thinned but that didn’t make it any less interesting. Sterling, in particular, was buoyant as it raced to 1.51 from 1.5020 in a choppy, but quick move. It appeared to stall out a 1.5100 and peel back a quarter-cent only to race back above the big figure.
EUR/USD made most of its gains in Europe on a reversal after the Greek vote but it continued to be solid in US trading, hitting 1.1298 before offers hit ahead of the big figure and knocked it all the way to 1.1235.
EUR/CHF was where the biggest move was. It started with data on sight deposits in Switzerland and that sparked speculation the SNB was taking some stealth action to boost EUR/CHF. The momentum took hold from there and from 0.9850 it climbed as high as 1.0169 and remains near the highs despite euro weakness elsewhere.
USD/CAD was interesting. An early slump down to 1.2405 was bid up all the way to 1.2487, which is a new cycle high. It’s more evidence that buyers are waiting in the weeds.
At the same time a bounce in oil after El-Badri talked about discussions with non-OPEC producers on co-ordinated hikes. After a squeeze up to $46.41 the market had second thoughts and it skidded back to $45.12.
USD/JPY held a decent bid but it’s been a month now around 1.18 and the market is losing interest.
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