Forex headlines for July 8, 2013:

  • Draghi says policy will remain accommodative as long as needed
  • Draghi sees prolonged recession as main systemic risk
  • May US consumer credit posts largest gain in a year
  • White House downgrades 2013 economic forecasts
  • Latest Greek bailout tranche approved by eurogroup
  • Canadian Q2 business outlook survey shows muted expectations for economic outlook
  • S&P 500 up 0.5% to 1640
  • Gold up $13 to $1236
  • Paulson’s gold fund down 23% in June
  • CIBC sees USD/CAD falling back to parity in 2014
  • NZD and AUD lead, USD lags

The comments from Draghi were little changed from the ECB press conference on Thursday and weren’t a notable factor for US traders. No theme emerged in US trading, instead traders continued to scale back on long USD positions after the big gains late last week.

The Australian dollar was the top performer despite the slump in Chinese markets. Support at 0.9000 has been a stubborn buying zone with barriers protecting it from an 80-handle. Offers at 0.9120 stalled the gains but they eventually gave out. So far offers in the 0.9145/50 zone are holding the line.

Overall it was a quiet drift that points to a day of consolidation, rather than anything substantive.