Forex news for US trading 8 April 2015:

  • FOMC Minutes: Officials were split on June rate rise
  • Full text of the FOMC minutes
  • Hilsenrath breaks down the FOMC minutes
  • Dudley says Fed not taking 'huge' signal from March jobs report
  • EIA crude oil inventories 10.95m vs 3.28m expected
  • Putin lukewarm on lending money to Greece
  • US Fed's Powell says tighter policy may be needed if market gets too frothy
  • Fed's Powell: Significant appreciation of the dollar is having an impact
  • Libya OPEC Governor urges group to cut output
  • The title of Bernanke's memoir released
  • Gold down $6 to $1203
  • WTI crude down $3.08 to $50.90
  • S&P 500 up 5.5 points to 2082
  • US 10-year yields up 2 bps to 1.91%
  • NZD leads, CAD lags

The US dollar made steady progress during US trading after falling in Asia and early in European trading. It got a final bump on the FOMC minutes but was still down on the days, especially against the pound and AUD.

The pound was the star performer coming into the session, up to 1.4974 just after US trading got underway. The driver was M&A optimism after Shell made a huge play for BG Group. Once again the 1.50 zone provided a stiff line of resistance and as the US began to reassert itself. It was a grind down to 1.4910 and then the minutes hit and it dropped to 1.4855 then bounced to 1.4890 and then slid back to 1.4862.

The euro began US trading near 1.0875 but made three attempts to push higher from there and traced out a small intraday head and shoulders pattern. The neckline near 1.0830 gave way, hitting stops and then more stops were triggered below 1.0800 and a one-week low of 1.0765 on the minutes. Last at 1.0779.

USD/JPY was a tough trade for daytraders as it made three marginal lower lows but bounced back after each. It turned along with the broad US dollar trade and hit 120.31 after the minutes before sagging to 120.00 and finishing near 120.15.

USD/CAD was a big winner in US trading. It looked to be breaking out in Asia as it touched below 1.24 on two occasions but oil began to plunge after the inventory data and it was a straight shot to 1.2545 afterwards, finishing near the highs of the day in a big reversal.

AUD/USD had a better fate. It was chopping around 0.7720 but it slid down to 0.7680 but still managed a solid gain on the day.