Forex headlines for July 25, 2013:
- US June durable goods orders +4.2% vs +1.4% expected
- US initial jobless claims 343k vs 340k exp
- The latest dovish musings from Hilsenrath
- Summers: “QE in my view is less efficacious for the real economy than most people suppose”
- IMF says ECB may need to cut rates, make deposit rates negative to support growth
- US Bloomberg consumer comfort -27.3 vs -28.4 prior
- Japan’s three major banks dumping Japanese bonds – Nikkei
- Italy’s Saccomanni needs extra €10bn
- One year since Draghi’s ‘whatever it takes’ speech
- Gold up $8 to 1331
- S&P 500 gains 0.25% to 1690
- NZD leads (+2%), USD lags
The dollar is down at least 0.80% against every G10 currency this week and has been the laggard in 3 of the 4 trading days. The selling hit a crescendo late on Thursday as Hilsenrath mused on ways the Fed could extend forward guidance on interest rates while maintaining the bias toward tapering QE. The dollar ends the day near the weekly lows on virtually every front.
EUR/USD tried the downside in Europe, hitting stops below 1.3175 and touching 1.3166 but it was one-way action from there as it steadily climbed to 1.3255, where it stalled ahead of yesterday’s highs. Even upbeat US durable goods orders and hawkish comments from Summers couldn’t stop the rout on the dollar. Late in the day, dovish musings from Hisenrath cracked whatever resolve the dollar bulls had left and EUR/USD soared to 1.3289.
USD/JPY chopped lower after starting US trading around 99.75. Bids at yesterday’s low around 99.40 held for most of the day but eventually gave way. Last at 99.21.
At the moment, it looks like the dollar bulls are getting squeezed once again. Ugly out there.
