Forex news for North American trade on April 10, 2018:
- Nowotny says ECB will end asset buys this year
- ECB says Nowotny's views are his own and don't represent governing council
- White House: Trump certainly believes he has the power to fire Mueller
- February US wholesale inventories +1.0% vs +0.8% expected
- Trump cancels trip to South America to oversee response to Syria
- Canada Feb building permits mm -2.6% vs -1.3% exp
- US March PPI final demand +0.3% vs +0.1% m/m expected
- Canadian March housing starts 225.2K vs 217K expected
Markets:
- S&P 500 up 43 points to 2656
- US 10-year yields up 1.6 bps to 2.79%
- WTI crude up $2.28 to $65.70
- Gold up $4 to $1340
- NZD leads, JPY lags
The Wall Street day started with Nowotny declaring the end of ECB QE and sending the euro quickly to 1.2378 from 1.2325. His comments stood for a few hours before the ECB came and walked them back, dropping the euro right back to 1.2325 before a late bounce to 1.2355.
USD/JPY was bounced around by Trump drama. It got a lift from a tweet thanking Xi for his shift on tariffs but it was later stifled by talk of Trump firing Mueller. Risk appetite provided the main lift that saw the pair finish up 40 pips to 107.17.
Cable was choppy in the 1.4150-80 range as it tried both sides a few times but was unable to break out.
The Canadian dollar continues to soar and it was joined by the rest of the commodity bloc after Xi's speech in Boao. The loonie fell to a six-week low just below 1.2600 and is down more than 200 pips since the start of the week, despite the NAFTA and pipeline failures.
Oil contributed to the upbeat tone in commodity currencies as Saudi Arabia talked up $80 oil. The bid was steady in the climb to $65.70. The January high of $66.66 is a technical level to watch in the day ahead.
Cryptic messages on Syria and the potential US response bear close watching with Trump said not to have decided what to do yet.
