Forex news for New York trading on February 1, 2019:

Markets:

  • Gold down $3.30 to $1318
  • WTI crude up $1.50 to $55.29
  • US 10-year yields up 6 bps to 2.69%
  • S&P 500 up 2 points to 2706
  • CAD leads, JPY lags

Nonfarm payrolls were a bit of a puzzle. The establishment survey showed massive job creation but the household survey showed the opposite and a climbing unemployment rate. There were revisions and surprises galore and the market did a good job of adjusting for that quickly.

Initially the US dollar rose but only about a dozen pips. It quickly gave that back and was mostly lower, outside of USD/JPY, which was up then continued to climb to 109.50 as yields rose.

USD/CAD fell immediately on a better outlook for North America. Oil prices later rose nearly 3% giving a second wind to the loonie and dropping USD/CAD to near a 3-month low at 1.3069 before a late bounce to 1.3092.

Its commodity cousins weren't so lucky as yesterday's AUD gains unraveled in a slide down to 0.7250 after an earlier pop to 0.7280.

Forex news for New York trading on February 1, 2019: