Forex news for North American trading on March 26, 2019:
- US March consumer confidence 124.1 vs 132.5 expected
- Richmond Fed manufacturing index for March 10 vs. 10 estimate
- US January Case-Shiller 20-city house price index 3.58% vs +3.8% y/y expected
- US February housing starts 1162K vs 1210K expected
- Fed's Daly: Fed funds rate is now at neutral
- Boris Johnson edges toward backing May's deal
- US sells $40 billion of 2-year notes at high yield of 2.261%
- UK inflation expectations slip in latest Yougov poll
- Trudeau: Canada is very concerned about China canola dispute
- ECB's Makuch: Data signals H2 eurozone rebound is realistic
Markets:
- Gold down $6 to $1316
- WTI crude up $1.23 to $60.05
- US 10-year yield up 1.8 bps to 2.41%
- S&P 500 up 20 points to 2818
- AUD leads, JPY lags
The euro sank to the lowest since March 11 on continued worry about the eurozone economy, negative-yielding debt and general USD strength. The comments from Makuch had little effect and a rally to 1.1325 in Europe was quickly wiped out in a series of declines that took the pair to 1.1264, breaking last week's low of 1.1273 and finishing near the lows.
USD/JPY had a steady bid but it mostly came early in the day as yields rose. Creeping risk aversion hit, especially have a strong 2-year US auction and that halted the advance at a high of 110.69 before a 20 pip retracement.
Cable was choppy and was up more than 60 pips at one point but gave it all back to finish the day flat near 1.3200. Neither side can seemingly fall in love with the trade as negativity from the DUP weighed in general, even as some ERG members shifted to support May.
USD/CAD held up surprisingly well despite the jump in oil. The pair finishes the day down 13 pips to 1.3391, which isn't even as strong as AUD. Worries about Canada-China trade were part of the story as Trudeau fretted about the Huawei CFO.
The RBNZ decision is coming up next and that led to some NZD under performance on worry about a dovish surprise. Eamonn will have more about what to expect in the hours ahead.
