Forex headlines for April 30, 2013:
- Chicago PMI 49.0 vs 52.5 expected
- S&P 500 hits record intraday high
- Canadian Feb GDP 0.3% vs 0.2% exp
- April US consumer confidence 68.1 vs 61.0 expected
- US 10-year yields fall to the lowest of 2013
- Moody’s cuts Slovenia to junk
- Cyprus parliament narrowly approves bailout
- S&P/CS home price indices composite +9.3%YoY, beats expectations
- S&P 500 gains 0.25% to record 1597.54
- CHF leads, USD lags
The US dollar dropped on the soft Chicago PMI despte better housing and consumer confidence numbers. The thinking ahead of tomorrow’s Fed is that Bernanke & Co. could remove language that points to asset-purchase tapering this year.
EUR/USD jumped through buy stops at 1.3125 and screamed to 1.3186 in less than an hour. After Europe wound down (holiday in parts of Europe tomorrow) it consolidated above 1.3150.
USD/JPY fell hard on the PMI numbers as well but bidders were waiting in the weeds at 97.01 and too it right back to 97.60. Despite some late-day strength in the S&P 500, the pair has edged back down to 97.44.
USD/CAD didn’t react much to the dated GDP figures but the overall ‘risk on’ tone as equities bounce helped the Canadian dollar. As a result, USD/CAD slipped to a two-month low of 1.0054.
Gold was on the quiet side after several big orders went through in Europe. It closes the day near unchanged at $1477.
