Forex news for US trading on September 21, 2015:

  • US August existing home sales 5.31m vs 5.50m expected
  • Fed's Lockhart: Hike delay allows more time to evaluate whether shock coming to economy
  • Lockhart: Risks of waiting for initial hike are not significant
  • BOC's Poloz says he's optimistic about Chinese growth
  • Poloz: Lower Canadian dollar is cushioning damage from oil shock
  • ECB's Nowotny: sees great uncertainty over emerging markets
  • ECB's Praet: Environment difficult, not out of the woods yet
  • BOE's Cunliffe: Growth 'pretty good'; not seeing price pressures
  • Fed's Bullard repeats his call for rate hike
  • Bullard says he worries about global turmoil and low inflation
  • Bullard: Expects more improvement in jobs market
  • Canadian July wholesale trade sales +0.0% vs +0.8% expected
  • ECB's Hansson says euro area must lower government debt levels
  • China's Li says there is no basis for further yuan depreciation
    ECB QE count: PSP total €326.7bn vs 314.47bn prior
  • Gold down $5.60 to $1133
  • WTI crude up $1.70 to $46.38
  • US 10-year yields up 6 bps to 2.20%
  • S&P 500 up 6 points to 1963
  • USD leads, NZD and EUR lag

Risk appetite ebbed and swayed but the US dollar held a bid on rising yields. EUR/USD fell to session lows early in New York and continued to slide from 1.1250 down to 1.1180 where bids supported and then it flatlined around 1.1195.

USD/JPY started near a session high then later rose to 120.66 as US stocks rallied. But worries about biotech stalled the rally and it pulled down USD/JPY to 120.25 before a late bounce to 120.50.

Cable started at 1.5550 but slowly sagged to 1.5475, just ahead of Friday's low and the Asia low. Bids there held up and the pair finishes near 1.5500.

A 4% rally in oil prices provided little support for the loonie. USD/CAD pushed lower early up a dip below 1.3180 didn't inspire any follow through and the pair turned around and rallied to 1.3262 even as oil continued to rise. Poloz wasn't a factor.

The central banker that most market watchers keyed on was Bullard and his hawkish comments were cited as a reason for dollar buying. Lockhart also talked about raising rates this year.

AUD/USD is beginning to look like the recent bounce has grown tired or that it may move sideways and consolidate. The Aussie fell below Thursday's low 0.7136 to 0.7120 where it founds some modest bids. The China PMI later will write the next chapter.