Forex news headlines for May 8, 2013:
- ECB looking at ways to re-start ABS market
- Mersch says ECB isn’t a ‘toothless tiger’
- April Canadian housing starts 174.9k vs 175k exp
- Mexico’s credit rating upgraded by Fitch
- Germany lowers tax forecasts
- Sell a USD/CAD bounce, RBC says
- G7 to discuss ways to boost global growth
- US Treasury official says G7 closely monitoring Japan’s actions
- US Fed’s Fisher: Inflation is not an issue
- S&P 500 up 0.4% to record 1633
- EUR leads, NZD lags
The ECB headlines on the ABS market are a bit old but Mersch added to the conversation and the threat of more action to stimulate lending helped the euro continue higher after a rally started in Europe on upbeat German data. From 1.3120 at the start of US trading, it was essentially a one-way street to 1.3194 but the pair peaked at the European close and has slowly sank back to 1.3153. Offers at the big figure up to 1.3250.
Cable was at 1.5500 at the outset of US trading and took off higher. A clearer has been active in cable but there was surprisingly little chatter as it surged to 1.5592. Like the euro, it peaked ahead of the European close and then slipped back. Last at 1.5534.
USD/CAD is becoming a bigger story as it approaches parity. CAD was able to shrug off weakness in its commodity cousins and touch the highest in nearly 3 months. Low of 1.0018 with spot at 1.0035 now.
Gold continues to rattle around in the $1440/80 range. Today it gained $20 to $1472 after falling by $20 yesterday.
