Forex news for North American trade on June 9, 2020:
- April US wholesale sales -16.9% vs -2.0% expected
- April JOLTS job openings 5046K vs 5750K expected
- US sells 10-year notes at 0.832% vs 0.819% WI
- White House Hassett: Expect 3.5 to 4 million jobs to be added to the economy in June
- BOEs Cunliffe: Covid crisis is very far from over
- ECB Schnabel: no evidence ECB bond buying delayed economic reforms
Markets:
- Gold +$16 to $1714
- WTI crude up 47-cents to $38.67
- US 10-year yields down 5 bps to 0.825%
- S&P 500 down 24 points to 3209
- CHF leads, AUD lags
The newsflow was as light as it's been since the start of the pandemic owing to a lack of data and the pre-Fed silence. The story that grabbed the market's attention was the WHO's U-turn on asymptomatic transmission. After saying it it was 'very rare' yesterday, another official said that's not the case today.
The general theme continues to be US dollar selling but the overall 'risk off' tone made the commodity currencies the laggards. However after early declines in European trade, they all made comebacks to some degree or another. The loonie was particularly well-bid, likely owing to a rebound in oil prices on another shutdown in Libya.
The euro also posted a 100-pip turnaround from a dip to 1.1250 in early European trade upt to 1.1350 at the European close.
Cable did a round trip from a post-pandemic high of 1.2757 in Asia down to 1.2625 early in Europe and then back. The pair is up a dozen pips on the day at writing but it was a wild ride.
Gold is beginning to benefit from dollar weakness as it gained for the second day in a rebound above $1714.
It's all noise ahead of the Fed. Tomorrow's moves and signals will be much more meaningful.
