Forex headlines for September 25, 2013:
- August US durable goods +0.1% vs 0.0% exp
- August US new home sales 421k vs 420k exp
- US household net worth rose $1.3 trillion to $74.8 trillion in Q2
- French jobless claims fall for the first time since April 2011
- ECB’s Asmussen says don’t rule out another Lehman event
- Wal-Mart cutting orders for Q3 and Q4 – BBG
- Gold gains $11 to $1334
- S&P 500 down for fifth consecutive day, down 0.3% to 1693
- GBP leads, NZD lags
Not coincidentally, the last time the S&P 500 had a 5 day losing streak was late in December of last year as Congress argued over the fiscal cliff. The Wal-Mart headlines also weighed, even though they were quickly denied.
Gold is benefiting from a safe haven bid on the Congressional squabbles. It hit $1338 in a surge from $1325.
The US dollar shook off the durable goods numbers, which were slightly below expectations. Just ahead of the European close, the euro kicked up to 1.3537, busting through some buy stops at 1.3520. Last at 1.3528.
USDJPY was on the defensive for most of the day. The low of 98.39 was hit in European trading but a bounce to 98.82 was slowly snuffed out. The WMT headlines hurt and risk trades were under cut by a persistent (likely month-end) bid in bonds. Last at 98.45.
USDCAD hit an air pocket ahead of options expiry and fell to 1.0285 then spent the rest of the day crawling back to 1.0312.
