Forex headlines for New York trading on March 24, 2017:
- Republican leaders postpone vote on healthcare bill
- February 2017 US durable goods orders 1.7% vs 1.2% exp m/m
- Canada February CPI +2.0% vs +2.1% y/y expected
- Baker Hughes US weekly oil rig count 652 vs 631 prior
- CFTC Commitments of Traders: GBP short inch to new record, EUR shorts slashed
- French Feb jobseekers -3.5K vs -10K expected
- New York Fed bumps up Q1 GDP growth forecast to 3.0%
- Bullard: We don't need to be pre-emptive on interest rates
- Q1 Atlanta Fed GDPNow estimate revised to +1.0% from +0.9%
- US wholesale inventories revised down to -0.3% for Jan 2017
- US March prelim Markit services PMI 52.9 vs 54.0 expected
- Inflation has essentially returned to 2% says Fed's Bullard
- Give us the deals we want and we won't be protectionist Says US's Mnuchin
Markets:
- Gold up $1 to $1246
- S&P 500 down 2 points to 2344
- WTI crude up 38-cents to $48.08
- US 10-year yields down 1 bps to 2.41%
- CHF leads, GBP lags
After a few days of watching politics, you start to get the sense that the market doesn't like trading on politics. It's tough to get an edge and to interpret what anything means. So healthcare reform is dead now and Republicans will let it 'implode' and then fix it later, blaming the other side. In the meantime, they'll move onto tax reform.
The market seemingly likes that narrative, or maybe it likes that they pulled the vote rather than allowing an embarrassing defeat and blame game.
In any case, USD/JPY rallied from a session low of 110.60 up to 111.25 at the end of the day on the postponement. The S&P 500 tried to rally too but fell short, finishing down 2 points but well off the lows.
For the second day in a row, the euro was basically sidelined in New York trade. It chopped 10 pips either side of 1.0800.
GBP/USD ended its winning streak with a 30-pip loss on the day. The damage was done in London trading and it was essentially sideways around 1.2490.
USD/CAD was at the lows of the day at 1.3340 when CPI numbers crossed. They were a touch weaker than expected and that set off a quick rally to 1.3380. There were some marginal highs above but no follow through, in part because oil finally got off the floor.
Have a great weekend.
