Forex headlines for July 24, 2013:
- July US Markit manufacturing flash PMI 53.2 vs 52.5 exp – highest since March
- June US new home sales 0.497m vs 0.482m exp
- Caterpillar revises global growth forecast lower
- French jobless total hits new record in June
- ECB will stay steady at August meeting – RTRS poll
- JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon expects a flurry of regulatory pressure in next month – Gasparino
- Gold down $24 to $1321
- S&P 500 down 0.4% to 1685
- USD leads, AUD lags
They named the royal baby George and, by George, did the pound tumble. After all the ballyhoo of breaking the 55dma and the 61.8% retracement yesterday it fall back below those levels today. The early US traded was choppy as it ranged between stiff offers at 1.5390 and then down to a session low (at the time) of 1.5315. The strong rebound from there, all the way to 1.5378, gave the bulls hope but a turn in the risk trade and higher bond yields finally gave the dollar what it needed to make some headway. Cable fell to fresh lows, taking out the strong area of support at 1.5300. Last at 1.5312 – watch the close.
USD/JPY was a more interesting pair that the narrow price action between 100.00 and 100.43 suggested. Big dollar bids came into the market but even larger offers were sitting at 1.0050 from Japanese corporates. Watch that level closely.
The euro chop was maddening in the early going and a fall to 1.3199 was bought up aggressively. Just as it looked like another rout on the US dollar, it rebounded. Part of the reason was better economic data but the market is lacking conviction and a bounce was due after two days of dollar declines.
