Forex news for North American trade on April 4, 2019:
- Brexit talks are "not going terribly well" with Labour - report
- Fed's Harker: Sees 'at most' one 2019 hike and one in 2020
- Fed's Mester: No urgency to change Fed policy stance
- Trump expected to name Herman Cain to Federal Reserve
- Canada March Ivey PMI 54.3 vs 50.6 prior
- Fed's Williams: Outlook is positive, growth is on track
- US weekly initial jobless claims 202K vs 215K expected
- Trump: China deal moving along nicely, US economy is looking very strong
- Labour MPs said to urge Corbyn not to insist on second referendum in any deal with May
Markets:
- Gold up $4 to $1294
- WTI crude down 34-cemts to $62.14
- US 10-year yields down 1.4 bps to 2.51%
- S&P 500 up 3 points to 2877
- AUD leads, GBP lags
The US economic calendar was quiet so the market generally settled in to wait for non-farm payrolls on Friday. US dollar strength was the main theme in the early going as initial jobless claims fell to the lowest since 1969. That helped USD/JPY climb to 111.60 from 111.40 at the dawn of New York trade.
The euro came under some modest pressure but held up well despite the dismal German factory orders numbers earlier in the day. EUR/USD fell as low as 1.1206 but bids ahead of the figure kept a bid alive.
In the UK, Labour and Conservatives had 4.5 hours of talks but scattered reports say they weren't productive or that they weren't productive enough to envision a deal within the next six days. Cable slowly and steadily bled to 1.3080 from 1.3140 at the start of North American trade.
Commodities were an interesting spot as Brent touched $70 for a few minutes but it was a choppy market as oil slumped into the settlement to finish slightly lower. Gold dove on the claims data but found support at $1280, which is a key level and rebounded to $1293 in an impressive turnaround.
The commodity currencies, however, traded in a tight range moving mostly sideways. The kiwi was an exception as it sagged down to 0.6750.
