Forex headlines for February 13, 2014:
- US Jan retail sales -0.4% vs 0.0% expected
- Dec retail sales numbers revised lower
- Initial jobless claims 339K vs 330K exp
- US Dec business inventories +0.5% vs +0.4% exp
- Canadian new house price index +1.3% y/y, as expected
- Winter storm bears down on US East coast
- Italian PM Letta announces he will resign
- PD leader Renzi likely to take over Italian govt
- Goldman Sachs lowers first quarter US GDP estimate
- Gold up $10.50 to $1302 — 3 month high
- WTI crude down 8 cents to
- S&P 500 up 10 points to 1830
- CHF leads, AUD lags
A soft non-farm payrolls report and weak retail sales were exactly what USD/JPY bears were looking for but when they came, the falls didn’t materialize. USD/JPY fell to 101.70 after the retail sales numbers but no further as a retest of that level held and the pair climbed all the way back to 102.22, down just 30 pips on the day.
The stock market was even more impressive as S&P futures fell as low as 1802 and then ripped to 1829.
Cable continued the impressive run that started on Wednesday. The high of the day came on a spike after retail sales as the pair hit 1.6673, a new multi-year high, but only by a few pips. The pair turned around down to 1.6625 but fears of a false breakout were placated by a steady climb back to 1.6657.
EUR/USD hit 1.3692 after the data but overall it was a tight range in US trading with the low at 1.3660.
The Australian dollar shrugged of the jobs report. From a low of 0.8918, it’s climbed steadily higher to 0.8994. Some short-term resistance looms ahead of the big fig.
USD/CAD fell to the lowest since January, hitting stops below 1.0980 down to 1.0955. It was a long way from the 1.1026 high after the retail sales data.
Gold took out $1300 but the level to watch is the 200dma at $1304.
