Forex news for North American trade on February 20, 2017:
- FBI's Mueller unveils new charges in Russia election probe
- ECB's Rimsevics barred from Latvian central bank
- Philadelphia Fed Feb non-mftg regional business index 31.0 vs 19.5 prev
- Canada December wholesale trade sales -0.5% vs +0.4% expected
- Boris Johnson: No reason why UK shouldn't be able to leave EU and have frictionless trade
- US 2-year notes sell at 2.255% vs 2.260% WI bid
- Paul Singer: Cryptocurrencies might be the greatest scam in history
- Eurozone February advance consumer confidence +0.1 vs +1.0 expected
- GDT price index down -0.5% vs +5.9% prev
- Eurogroup's Centeno says European economies becoming increasingly resilient
Markets:
- Gold down $16 to $1330
- S&P 500 down 16 points to 2716
- US 10-year yields up 1 bps to 2.89%
- Bitcoin up 5.6% to $11709
- WTI crude up 22-cents to $61.90
- USD leads, CHF and CAD lag
The US dollar rebound continued Tuesday for a third consecutive day.
EUR/USD sank as low as 1.2330 in a 70 pip fall. The selling all took place before US traders arrived and then it was a shop between 1.2320 to 1.2360.
Some USD buying came in a wave just before 9 am ET as USD/JPY jumped to 107.38. The dollar gained around 20 pips across the board on the move before it completely retraced. But after the London fix, the dollar stayed bid and finished near the best levels of the day.
One currency that was able to withstand the USD assault was the pound. It dropped down to 1.2332 early in Europe but was strong after wards and rebounded nearly a full cent at the highs before finishing close to 1.4000. It's a big day for GBP data tomorrow.
USD/CAD climbed in part due to soft Canadian data and the pair will likely close above the 100-dma for the first time since December. The rally to 1.2648 was a steady one that accelerated late in the day as commodity prices slipped.
AUD was also caught in the USD updraft as it dropped to a six-day low at 0.7874 and finished near the lows. The GDT auction sent a short-lived shudder through NZD.
