Forex news for US trading on August 9, 2016
- US Q2 prelim productivity -0.5% vs +0.4% expected
- Canada housing starts July 198.4k vs 191.0k exp
- US sells 3 year notes at 0.850% vs 0.860% WI
- EIA raises 2016 oil demand forecast but cuts 2017
- Atlanta Fed GDPNow forecast 3.7% vs 3.8% prior
- US June wholesale trade sales +1.9% vs +0.5% expected
- July 2016 UK NIESR GDP estimate 0.3% vs 0.4% exp
Markets:
- S&P 500 touches fresh all-time high, finishes up 1 points to 2181
- Gold up $5 to $1340
- WTI crude down 26-cents to $42.76
- US 10-year yields down 5 bps to 1.54%
- JPY leads, GBP lags
The theme was US dollar weakness today. It fell to session lows in US trading as some of the non-farm payrolls gains fade. One of the problems is that inflation isn't showing the same kinds of improvements as jobs. The productivity report went in the wrong direction and unit labor costs were revised down.
USD/JPY was at 102.50 early in Europe but sliding as the US arrived. Bids at 102.00 held for a short period but then the pair broke down to 101.80. Later the pair made a marginal new low before finishing near 101.92.
EUR/USD caught a quick bid ahead of the options cut and rallied to 1.1122 from 1.1080 and it's poised to finish 10 pips from the highs.
Cable was hit by the failure of the BOE to meet its QE target today but after a test of 1.2950, the pair rallied above 1.3000 on the general US dollar downdraft.
USD/CAD was at 1.3180 in Asia but on the defensive as oil climbed to a three-week high of $43.50. USD/CAD slumped down to 1.3110 but even as crude gains faded, USD/CAD remained near the worst levels of the day.
There was lots of talk about the technical breakout in AUD/USD today as the three-week uptrend continued. The high of 0.7687 was the best since May 2 but there was little follow through and we finish at 0.7671.
