Forex headlines for March 20, 2014:
Data
- February US Philly Fed survey 9.0 vs 3.8 exp
- US initial jobless claims 320k vs 325k exp
- US February existing home sales 4.60M vs 4.60M expected
- US February leading index 0.5% vs +0.2% expected
- Belgian consumer confidence at 7-month low
Ukraine
- 20 individuals and a bank added to US sanctions list
- Russia retaliates with sanctions against US, including asset freezes and US visa bans
- UK PM Cameron will be adding more names to the list of Russians subject to asset freezes and travel bans
- Merkel says EU to consider expanding Russian sanctions
- S&P lowers Russia’s credit outlook to negative from stable
- Gunmen seize 2 Ukranian warships
- Russian defense minister assures Pentagon that troops won’t enter Eastern Ukraine
Other
- BOE’s Weale says expects interest rates to stay low over next 2-3 years, can’t guarantee it
- Draghi needs to see details on SRM borrowing capacity
- ECB’s Lautenschlaeger says interest rates will remain low or lower for an extended period of time
- Gold down $1 to $1328
- May WTI crude down 43-cents to $98.74
- S&P 500 up 11 points to 1872
- USD leads, EUR lags
After all the excitement on Fed day, US traders had a bit of a hangover. The biggest moves came on the Philly Fed, it was strong even through the employment component was weak and that gave the US dollar a boost, sending EUR/USD down to a session low at 1.3749.
USD/JPY was basically a non-event. The stock market opened lower but finished substantially higher to erase yesterday’s losses. The pair followed the ebb and flow of stocks but in a miniscule way and in a sub-30 pip range. Last at 102.42.
Cable was in the doldrums and hit a one-month low of 1.6480 after the Philly Fed. Before that it was already skidding after a break of 1.6500. Looks like a close above the big figure though with the last trade at 1.6507.
USD/CAD slipped after hitting a four-year high yesterday. EUR/CAD sales were a culprit and the pair slowly chopped down to 1.1238 from as high as 1.1279 in Europe.
The Australian dollar was caught in the Philly Fed chop, hitting a low of 0.8995, taking out some stops but it almost instantaneously rebounded and climbed to 0.9040, finishing flat on the day.
