Forex news for US trading on August 12, 2016:
- July 2016 US advance retail sales 0.0% vs 0.4% exp m/m
- June 2016 US business inventories 0.2% vs 0.1% exp m/m
- August 2016 US Michigan consumer sentiment 90.4 vs 91.5 exp
- US PPI final demand for July -0.4% vs. +0.1% est
- Fed's Bullard: The dollar isn't that big of a deal
- Baker Hughes US oil rig count 396 vs 381 prior
- EIA's Sieminski expects more balance in global oil markets by end-2016
Markets:
- S&P 500 down 2 points on the day, flat on the week
- Gold down $3 to $1335
- WTI crude up $1.21 to $44.70
- US 10-year yields down 5 bps to 1.51%
- JPY leads, AUD lags
A weak retail sales report hit the US dollar like a hammer but it rebounded like a trampoline.
A weak retail sales report hit the US dollar like a hammer but it rebounded like a trampoline, at least on most fronts.
EUR/USD shot to 1.1220 from 1.1160 on the retail sales news (with a bit of help from PPI) but the peak for the day was moments afterwards as it slowly gave back all the gains.
It was worse for cable. It jumped 70 pips to 1.3030 but the gains evaporated within three hours and from there it continued lower to 1.2908, finishing near the daily and cycle lows.
It was a similar story in AUD/USD as it jumped to 0.7720 from 0.7680 then fell hard into the London close (position squaring?) and then continued down to 0.7645 to end at the lows.
USD/CAD was in a bit of its own world as oil weighed on the pair. Crude held a steady bid after retail sales and easily shook off a surprise jump in the Baker Hughes oil rig count data then finished at the weekly high of $44.71. Given the oil backdrop, the only surprise is that USD/CAD didn't finish lower. It touched off 1.2930 but rebounded to close near 1.2955.
Have a great weekend
