Forex news for US trading on May 9, 2016:
- Fed's Kashkari: Current Fed policy stance is appropriate
- Fed's Kashkari: Fed is coming up short on both its mandates
- Fed's Kashkari: FOMC has options if growth slows or picks up
- April 2016 Canadian housing starts 191.5k vs 195.0k exp
- Eurogroup Dijsselbloem: Greek contingency reform package will be legislated upfront
- EU Dombrovskis: Agreement with Greece to be finalised in coming days
- US consumers are less sure about keeping their jobs
- April 2016 US labour market conditions index -0.9 vs -1.0 exp
- ECB QE count: Total QE €746.3bn vs €726.5bn prior
- Greek aid depends on reform measures says Dijsselbloem
Markets:
- Gold down $26 to $1262
- WTI crude down $1.26 to $43.40
- S&P 500 up 1.5 points to 2058
- US 10-year yields down 2 bps to 1.75%
- CHF and USD lead, JPY lags
The US dollar was strong once again as it made steady gains through European trading and then leveled off over the past few hours.
USD/JPY finishes the day as the big mover, gaining 125 pips to 108.37 and touching as high as 108.60. Ninety percent of the move took place before US traders arrived but the pair still held without any real sign of a retracement. It's the fifth gain in six sessions.
The euro and cable were more confined. EUR/USD chopped between 1.1375 and 1.1415 with news light. Cable was a tad livelier as it tried the upside just before the US came online but topped out at 1.4477 before sinking back to 1.4400 but remaining above the European low of 1.4375.
The only headline that really moved markets was the Genscape Cushing inventory report. It showed another 1.4m barrels going into storage and pushed down already sinking oil prices. Lots of eyes on last week's low of $43.20, which is barely holding.
USD/CAD rallied above 1.30 to 1.3015 in a steady rise but late in the day it has skidded back to 1.2953. That's still up a half cent on the day. The thinking is that the damage from the fire has likely peaked.
The rest of the commodity bloc was weak as well as most commodities trade lower. Precious metals and copper were particularly hard hit. Concerns about China were elevated after the weak trade report released on the weekend.
