Forex news for December 19, 2014:
- November 2014 Canadian CPI 2.0% vs 2.2% exp y/y
- Canadian Oct retail sales 0.0% vs -0.3% expected
- There was some fishy market action just ahead of the Canadian CPI report
- Kocherlakota says Fed should be ready to to use more QE to lift inflation to goal
- ECB’s Praet: Buying sovereigns would be a powerful signal
- December 2014 US KC Fed manufacturing index 9 vs 5 exp
- Fed’s Williams: Shift in guidance to ‘patient’ was natural progression
- Williams: We will see inflation in 2015 well below 2%
- Fed’s Lacker: “I think it’s highly likely” rates go up next year
- Highlights of Obama’s year-end news conference
- EU’s Junker wants more firepower in 2015
- Syrian leader Assad bombed his own side to crush internal opposition – WSJ
- Fed’s Plosser: Date-based guidance is problematic
- Baker Hughes US oil rig count drops to 1875 from 1893
- On the week, S&P 500 up 3.4% (largest weekly gain since Oct)
- S&P 500 up 10 points to 2071
- WTI up $2.41 to $56.52
- Brent up $3.28 to $62.55
- US 10-year yields down 4 bps to 2.165%
- USD leads, JPY lags
It was really only a half day of trading as the market went quiet after Europe shut down for the weekend. The story was US dollar strength, once again.
EUR/USD perked up to 1.23200 for a large option expiry that stung our friend Littlestone. It was open hunting season for euro shorts after that and, right on cue it dropped to 1.2220 in a multi-stage move. The final 20 pips of that move were particularly significant as it took out the trend since 2010 and the 200-month moving average. We closed just below both.
In the same burst, USD/JPY cracked 119.60 after a quick drop and reversal down to 118.84 in early US trading. The pair finishes near the highs of the day. It was all about flows with very few headlines to weigh.
Cable was strong to start US trading near 1.5665 but sagged down to the European low of 1.5617. When it broke, it didn’t trigger much excitement or stops in a slide down to a session low of 1.5605. From there it bounced to 1.5629 at day’s end.
USD/CAD spiked higher seconds before the CPI data was released in a suspicious move. The same people who bought it look like they were quick to take profits with pair completing a 60 pip round trip to 1.1600. A later push to 1.1630 was beaten back by a rally in oil prices.
Take note of the ForexLive Christmas shopping hours. We’re going to be posting less for the remainder of the year as we take a break and get ready to roll out some improvements.
On a personal level, I love this place. Our traffic this week was the highest of the year and it gets more fun every day. I got some good news today and it’s all because of the readers, and especially the super-talented guys I work with.
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