Forex news for NY trading on January 24, 2020
- Major indices give up early gains on coronavirus fear
- CFTC Commitments of traders: JPY shorts increase to largest level since early December
- UK virus researchers estimate 250,000 people in Wuhan will have coronavirus in 13 days
- Crude oil futures settle at $54.19. A sharp moved lower this week.
- France confirms first case of coronavirus, send case likely
- China has now confirmed 903 coronavirus cases
- BOE: Bank of England could lower rates next week
- Baker Hughes US oil rig count 676 vs 673 prior
- Why the coronavirus risk to global growth and financial markets is real
- European shares rebound to end the week
- NY Fed weekly GDP Nowcast unchanged at 1.22% for Q4
- Gold rises to the highest since January 8
- Mnuchin says he expects China to issue more tariff waivers
- US 10-year yield falls below the Iran spike-low, nears December low
- CDC confirms a second US case of coronavirus and is monitoring 63 other cases
- US January prelim Markit services PMI 53.2 vs 53.0 expected
- Oil breaks support, falls to 10-week low
- Canada November retail sales +0.9% vs +0.6% expected
- The USD is the strongest while the GBP is the weakest as NA session begins
In other markets:
- Spot gold is trading up $8.30 or +0.53% at $1571.15. The price is trading up from last Friday's close at $1557.24 or +$13.91 (up 0.89%).
- WTI crude oil futures trading down $1.21 or -2.18% at $54.38. The price of crude oil fell over 7% for the week.
The day today saw Canada retail sales rise by 0.9% versus 0.6% expected. The number came on the back of a -1.1% decline last month.
In the US the only economic news was the Markit PMI which came in a little bit stronger than expectations at 53.2 versus 53.0.
Most the rest of the day was influenced by the coronavirus news. The fear helped to lift gold prices. For the week go prices increase by 0.89%.
Crude oil continued to move lower on global growth concerns.
The US stocks fell today with the Nasdaq and S&P both only about -0.9%. For the week, the NASDAQ broke a string of sevens consecutive weeks higher, falling by -0.45%. The Dow ended the week with a 4 day losing streak (and down -1.05%).
In the US debt market, the 10 year yield fell by -4.5 basis points and tested the early November low of 1.668% (see chart below). The low for the day reach 1.668%.
The high yield today of 1.76% was also just below the 100 day moving average at 1.7663% (see blue line in the the chart). So the support and resistance were both tested. The levels will be important in trading next week.
In the forex market, traders moved into the relative safety of the JPY and the USD today. They were the 2 strongest currencies of the day. On the downside, risk aversion sent the AUD lower. The GBP was also lower despite better-than-expected PMI data. Although higher, the data still remains below the 50 level indicative of a contracting manufacturing base. Next week the Bank of England rate decision is a tossup on whether they cut by 25 basis points or keep rates unchanged.
For the week in the forex market, the JPY is the strongest of the majors, while the AUD is the weakest. The US dollar rose modestly versus the major currencies. It was higher versus AUD (+0.80%), EUR, CAD and CHF, and lower vs the JPY (-0.78%) and GBP. The greenback was near unchanged versus the NZD for the week (+0.09%).
