Forex news for North American trading on October 21, 2021:
- US October Philly Fed 23.8 vs 25.0 expected
- US Sept existing home sales 6.29m vs 6.09m expected
- US initial jobless claims 290K versus 300K estimate
- Canada Sept new house price index +0.4% m/m vs +0.7% prior
- Fed's Bostic: I've had one rate hike penciled in for 2022 for a long time
- Manchin says he doesn't think Dems will reach reconciliation deal tomorrow
- Freeport-McMoRan CEO warns that the world will be short of copper supply
- Manchin: We're getting close to a top line on spending bill
- Eurozone October flash consumer confidence -4.8 vs -5.0 expected
- Putin: OPEC+ countries are increasing oil output a bit more than agreed
Markets:
- Gold up $1.46 to $1783
- US 10-year yields up 5 bps to 1.684%
- WTI crude oil down 74-cents to $82.67
- S&P 500 up 13 points to 4549 record high
- JPY leads, AUD lags
There has been a relentless dump of the yen over the past two weeks and there was finally a relief rally today. The move flied somewhat in the face of the overall tone in markets as equities rose and bond yields continued to the upside.
It wasn't just yen crosses as the six day rally in NZD/USD reversed in an outside day (or close to it with some time left in today's trade). Part of that was softening commodity prices as oil slipped. It wasn't all bad though as much of the oil decline reversed late.
Chalk it all up to some back and fill after some big moves this month but some times back and fill is the start of a bigger retracement.
Economic data wasn't a factor, though jobless claims fell to a cycle low and home sales were surprisingly strong. That's will help to feed into the recovery narrative and could eventually mean more US rate hikes.
