Forex news for US trading on July 14, 2015:

  • June 2015 US retail sales -0.3% vs +0.2% exp m/m
  • May 2015 US business inventories 0.3% vs 0.3% exp m/m
  • June 2015 US import prices -0.1% vs +0.1% exp m/m
  • Tsipras will not resign
  • Bank of England's Miles: The time to start normalization is 'soon'
  • Japanese govt to forecast FY16 real growth of 1.7% - Nikkei
  • Fake Bloomberg site spoofs Twitter share price
  • BOE's Carney says considerable financial stability risks are playing out in China
  • Greek government likely to see a cabinet re-shuffle after tomorrow's vote
  • ECB's Mersch: EMU must live up to its name
  • Some in German government think Greek exit is a better option says Schaeuble
  • S&P 500 up 9 to 2109
  • Gold down $3 to $1155
  • WTI crude up $0.63 to $52.84
  • US 10-year yields down 5.6 bps to 2.40%
  • GBP leads, USD lags

The US retail sales report was circles on the economic calendar and it sent the US dollar 30-60 pips lower across the board. But the dollar bulls took it as an opportunity to flex their muscles and they bid it all the way back up within a few hours.

It was mostly sideways trading from there, except in the high-flying pound, which made fresh highs late in the day on hawkish BOE comments.

EUR/USD started US trading at 1.1020 and the jumped to 1.1080 immediately after retail sales but the kneejerk marked the high in a sign that rally-sellers were waiting in the weeds. Over the next two hours, EUR/USD slid all the way to 1.0993, then chopped sideways.

USD/JPY followed a near-identical patter. The pair hit a session low of 122.90 from 123.35 before the retail sales data. By the London close it had completely retraced and then traded in a tight range around 123.35. The BOJ is up next.

Cable was hit by a soft inflation report early but that was blown out of the water when Carney said the time for hiking is getting closer. The gains were mostly before US traders arrived but cable jumped to 1.5625 from 1.5570 on the data. Like EUR and JPY, it gave up the gains before the London close but then a second-wave of buying hit, aided by Miles as the pair climbed to a fresh one-week high at 1.5639 and finished near the highs.

USD/CAD traders were positioning ahead of tomorrow's BOC decision. The pair fell to 1.2714 from 1.2790 on US retail sales but stayed lower because oil prices rebounded. Last at 1.2739.

AUD/USD spiked up to a four-day high of 0.7478 from 0.7430 on retail sales then fell back to 0.7445. It managed to hang on to some of the gains through the end of the day. That's a good signal for the beaten-up Aussie.