Forex news for US trading on July 7, 2015:

  • NYSE suspends all trading for hours due to technical issues
  • NYSE outage related to new software - report
  • US department of Homeland Security says not to worry about NYSE and UA outages
  • FOMC minutes: Most participants "judged that the conditions for policy firming had not yet been achieved"
  • French PM Valls says Greek deal within reach
  • ECB said to consider 'humanitarian' aid to Greece
  • Fed's Williams: Still sees rate liftoff in 2015
  • Obama told Senators that chance of Iran deal less than 50/50
  • May 2015 Canadian building permits -14.5% vs -5.0% exp
  • UK summer budget: OBR lowers GDP for 2015 to 2.4% vs 2.5% prior
  • UK summer budget: Corp taxes to be cut to 19% in 2017
  • SNB declines to comment on intervention
  • ECB leaves Greek ELA ceiling unchanged
  • S&P 500 down 35 points to 2047
  • Gold up $3 to $1158
  • WTI crude down 55-cents to $51.79
  • US 10-year yields down 6 bps to 2.20%
  • JPY leads, GBP lags

This day had everything. It started with United Airlines grounding flights for technical glitch and then some major websites going down and then the NYSE halting trading. In the meantime, sentiment was melting.

USD/JPY started US trading at 121.50 and touched more than 100 pips lower before all was said and done. It was the lowest since May and wiped out the range breakout.

The euro was generally buoyant despite mixed signs on Greece. EUR/USD started US trading near 1.1025 and touched 1.1094 before finishing at 1.1075. It had been trading at 1.1050 but the Fed minutes were viewed dovishly and that hurt the US dollar late. It's also yet-another sign that the euro is used as a carry funding currency.

Cable was the laggard but most of the damage was done before US traders arrived. From 1.5360 it touched a low of 1.5330 but rebounded to pre-US levels. Still, it was the worst performer on the day and the extra budget didn't help.

The kiwi was a strong performer starting in European trading. It shot to 0.6750 from 0.6640 despite the worries about China.

USD/CAD was more of a case of consolidation around 1.2740 in a back-and-forth range from 1.2700 to 1.2760.

There was some drama in the Swiss franc as it looked like the SNB went to work. The new Governor in charge of intervention started this week and she may have wanted to fire up the machine to fight back against safe haven flows.