Forex news for North American trade on October 17, 2019:
- DUP confirms it will not support Brexit deal - full statement
- Juncker: There is no need for any prolongation
- Tusk: If there is an extension request, I will consult member states
- Canada ADP September employment 28.2K vs +49.3K prior
- Canada August manufacturing sales +0.8% vs +0.7% expected
- US October Philly Fed business outlook +5.6 vs +7.6 expected
- US weekly initial jobless claims 214K vs 215K expected
- US September housing starts 1256K vs 1320K expected
- Javid sees 'decent chance' Brexit deal gets through parliament
- Fed's Evans: Modest wage growth is a sign that inflation isn't an urgent threat
- Kuroda: Japan's exports are weakening
- Merkel: After Brexit we will quickly negotiate a trade accord
- US weekly EIA energy inventories +9281K vs +3000K expected
- US September industrial production -0.4% vs -0.2% expected
- Germany cuts 2020 GDP forecast to 1.0% from 1.5% (consensus is +0.7%)
- ECB's Visco: I would be very, very careful in going further towards negative rates
Markets:
- Gold up $2 to $1492
- WTI crude up 70-cents to $54.06
- US 10-year yields up 1.6 bps to 1.75%
- S&P 500 up 8 points to 2998
- AUD leads, USD lags
The Brexit deal was struck early in European trading and that sent the pound to 1.2990. Seller stepped in ahead of 1.3000 and then the doubts crept in and it was a steady slide until the DUP confirmed it would vote against the deal on Saturday. That set off some stops in a fall to 1.2758. Still, the Asian lows held and buyers stepped back in on the threat of a no-deal Brexit, even if it's hollow. Those gains held in a rise to 1.2870.
Once again, Brexit optimism helped to lift the euro and it climbed to 1.1123, which is the highest since August 25 and the sixth gain in the past seven trading days.
USD/JPY was under some modest pressure in a broader USD slump. It hit some stops below 108.50 before recovering to 108.65 late.
The dollar weakness was more-pronounced against the commodity currencies. USD/CAD fell to 1.3131 in a brief break of the September low but the larger moves were in the antipodeans after yesterday's Aussie jobs report. AUD/USD was mostly flat in North American trade but hung onto the 1% gain on the day. NZD/USD was more-bid in New York trade and added about 20 pips to 0.6350.
