Forex news for North American trade on July 24, 2019:
- Markit prelim services PMI 52.2 vs 51.8 expected
- Johnson: We're going "come out of the EU on October 31 No ifs or buts"
- US weekly EIA crude oil inventories -10835K vs -4261K expected
- US June new home sales 646K vs 658K expected
- Mnuchin: Expectation is that China trip will be followed by Washington meetings
- Raab named foreign secretary, as rumored
- Javid confirmed as Chancellor of the Exchequer
- US sells 5-year notes at 1.824% vs 1.815% WI bid
- Greenspan backs the case for an insurance rate cut
Markets:
- Gold up $8 to $1425
- US 10-year yields down 3.5 bps to 2.045%
- WTI crude down 87-cents to $55.91
- S&P 500 up 14 points to record 3019
- GBP leads, AUD lags
There was a bit of life in the market but no real fireworks. At the end of the day, everything is closing within a handful of pips except for GBP and AUD.
The pound rallied early in Europe as Boris Johnson took over but after climbing to 1.2522 and running stops, the pair sagged back down to 1.2480.
The euro is just above the lows for the year after some weak manufacturing PMIs. It was likely only saved by the event risk of the ECB tomorrow and that the US manufacturing PMI was also at a 10-year low. It fell as low as 1.1127 compared to the yearly low of 1.1107 hit in May. Any sniff of special dovishness from Draghi tomorrow will push it through.
AUD/USD was down for the fourth day in a row and fell below 0.7000, sparking some extra selling. The pair is near some minor uptrend support from the June low and a speech from Lowe is due at 0305 GMT, but the weak global manufacturing numbers certainly aren't helping.
USD/CAD was bounced around by oil. Crude liked the big draw in US inventories but reports of extra Saudi and Kuwaiti production to come reversed the oil gains and sent it 1.5% lower on the day. In turn, that sent USD/CAD to 1.3145 from the low of 1.3119.
