Forex headlines for August 4, 2014:
- Russia says Ukraine is deploying missile launchers near Donetsk
- U.S. Borrowing Needs Hit 7-Year Low for Quarter
- ISM New York 68.1 vs 60.5 prior
- Deutsche Bank says it’s time to sell cable
- Hurricane Bertha forms in Atlantic
- Nigerian doctor gets ebola
- Gold down $5 to $1288
- WTI crude up 75-cents to $98.63
- S&P 500 up 16 points to 1941
- AUD leads, CHF and EUR lag
Canada was closed for a holiday and the rest of the market might as well have followed. Quiet Mondays have been a pattern lately but the rest of the week has been better.
The mover in US trading was the pound as it rebounded after declines in 12 of the past 13 days. It was a steady grind higher to 1.6858 from 1.6820. We finish near the highs of the day as offers at the 100-day moving average weigh. Hard to call it anything more than a bounce at this point.
Similar story in AUD/USD as it creeps higher ahead of the RBA decision. Better risk appetite in the stock market boosted sentiment and that gave risk assets a lift. Shorts are covering ahead of the RBA as well. Last at 0.9334 after a 20-pip bump in US trading.
Falling Treasury yields pressured USD/JPY in the early going but the low of 102.41 didn’t seriously challenge Friday’s low of 102.31. As the mood improved and Treasury yields climbed back to unchanged the pair moved up to 102.25.
The euro tried the downside and hit a session low of 1.3410 but there was never the sense that the trade could run and we wrap up trading at 1.3420.
