Forex news for North American trade on April 28, 2020:
- US April Conference Board consumer confidence 86.9 vs 87.0 prior
- Richmond Fed manufacturing index -53 vs -41 expected
- US Feb CaseShiller 20-city house price index 3.5% y/y vs +3.19% expected
- Mnuchin: It is highly unlikely that the government would buy stocks
- US March advance goods trade balance -$64.2 vs -$55.0B expected
- US wholesale inventories for a March (P) -1.0% versus -0.4% estimate
- Republicans expect Judy Shelton's Fed nomination to be withdrawn - report
- New York state coronavirus deaths rise by 335 vs 337 yesterday
- UK coronavirus deaths rise 586 vs 300 yesterday
- Canada coronavirus cases rise from 47,327 to 49,025
Markets:
- Gold down $7 to $1707
- WTI crude down 13-cents to $12.65
- US 10-year yields down 5.3 bps to 0.61%
- S&P 500 down 5 points to 2874
- AUD leads, USD lags
The US dollar still finished as the worst performer on the day but the story in New York trade was the rebound from the lows. It managed to get back to flat against the euro and pound in what was a roughly 60 pip move in both directions.
Late in the day, Italy was downgraded and that added some modest selling pressure to the euro. There was a time when that would have led to a huge move but now the ECB is buying everything.
There wasn't a catalyst for the dollar in either direction and the risk trade was choppy today and not a major factor, at least in a tick-for-tick sense. I look at the calendar for guidance and month-end flows are probably in play.
Interestingly, the Australian dollar held up even as the US dollar rebounded. I wrote yesterday about why the AUD/USD rally will continue and the resilience today was a good sign. It climbed in Asia and rose over 0.6500 twice but couldn't push further.
USD/CAD had a bit more shape to it as oil continued to make wild moves. The pair fell as low as 1.3936 before rebounding to the figure.
