Forex headlines for February 12, 2014:
- Senate votes to hike debt ceiling until March 2015
- Yellen’s Thursday testimony postponed by weather
- Greece to submit 3rd reform plan to the Troika
- IMF says Australian monetary policy should remain accommodative
- German court didn’t look for fast-track EU probe of OMT
- Fed’s Bullard expects 3% economic growth in 2014 or better
- Drop in labour participation rate due to permanent demographic trends — Bullard
- Letta intends to continue with Italian government on the brink of collapse
- Italian president Napolitano dismisses new elections suggestion
- Canada’s Teranet/National Bank house price index rose 0.4% vs 0.0% exp
- Bank union could lead to stronger financial integration says Draghi
- ECB’s Noyer says the euro’s strength is ‘curious’ given the eurozone’s recovery
- Carney says Bank of England won’t take risks with the recovery
- S&P 500 down 0.5 points to 1819
- Gold flat at $1291 after hitting 3 month high of $1296
- WTI crude up 37-cents to $100.31
- GBP leads, EUR lags
The big moves came in Europe with Coeure cutting down the euro and the Bank of England boosting the pound. In US trading, the euro fall retraced while cable continues to climb.
EUR/USD fell as low as 1.3562 but has climbed back to 1.3594 with offers at 1.3600 capping. Cable touched 1.6600 or 1.6599 depending on which broker screen you check. GBP/USD started US trading at 1.6525 so it’s been a nice gain and is about 70 pips from the cycle high.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars suffered as stock market sentiment slipped in early trading but they were unable to pick back up when stocks bounced back to unchanged. AUD/USD at 0.9029, near the US low and NZD/USD at 0.8319.
USD/JPY was generally lifeless. It picked up to 102.63 on rising US stocks and trades at 102.50 — 35 pip range in European and US trading.
Keep an eye on the USD/CAD close as the pair flirts with 1.1000.
