Forex news for New York trading on December 14, 2020:
- London likely to enter highest tier of covid restrictions on Thursday - report
- OPEC cuts Q1 oil demand forecast by 1 mbpd
- McConnell: It's about time to get relief finished
- New Zealand Q4 Westpac consumer confidence 106.0 vs 95.4 prior
- US case count falls to 181,032 vs. 213,305 yesterday
- NY Fed's survey of consumer expectations shows spending growth expectations
- UK Health Min.: New variants of Covid virus has been found. May accelerate spread
- ECB to ease bank dividend restrictions, will allow payments of 15% of 2019-2020 profits
- Libya continues to increase production, oil continues to rise
Markets:
- US 10-year yields float at 0.89%
- WTI crude oil up 41-cents to $46.98 per barrel
- Gold down $12 to $1827
- GBP leads, NZD lags
It looked like more of the usual USD weakness and equity strength as New York ramped up for the week but without any change in the news, the script flipped early in the day.
USD/JPY hit a session low of 103.51 early but then spun around and rallied back to unchanged on the day at 104.05.
Sterling surged early in the day on a continuation of Brexit discussion and some positive signs on a breakthrough on level playing field provisions. Cable was up 200 pips at the highs but pared about half of that on uncertainty about Brexit and USD strength.
The broad risk trade also turned around and that weighed on the commodity currencies. CAD, NZD and AUD had all started the week significantly higher but gave back the gains. CAD even fell into solidly negative territory as oil turned lower but it rebounded alongside crude.
The euro was more-subdued as it bounced around in the 1.2120-1.2170 range before finishing at 1.2150.
