Forex news for North American trade on April 12, 2019:
- U Mich April US consumer sentiment 96.9 vs 98.2 expected
- Canada Teranet March house price index +1.5% vs +1.9% y/y prior
- US March import price index 0.0% y/y vs -0.6% y/y expected
- BOE appoints Saunders to a second term
- Draghi: Outlook for eurozone depends on global growth momentum
- Germany's Scholz: Convinced that chances of reaching a Brexit deal have risen
- CFTC Commitment of traders: EUR short pushes over 100K short
- Baker Hughes US oil rig count 833 vs 831 prior
Markets:
- Gold down $2 to $1290
- WTI crude up 26-cents to $63.85
- S&P 500 up 19 points to 2907
- US 10-year yields up 6.5 bps to 2.56%
- AUD leads, JPY lags
USD/JPY finished the week just above 112.00 in a steady grind higher that started a day earlier and was only momentarily interrupted on a 15 pip drop after US consumer sentiment.
The main driver wasn't North America but China after a jump in credit in data released earlier in the day. The theme of China flooding the credit market to goose growth is well-ingrained and the market likes it. The S&P 500 rose 19 points to 2907 to a fresh high since October.
AUD/USD had a back-and-forth week but touched a one-month high of 0.7192 on Friday before falling back 20 pips. Again, the rally kicked off on the Chinese data.
Oil rallied strongly early with WTI hitting $64.65 but it failed just ahead of the weekly high and that sparked some selling, including late selling down to $63.80. Watch out for a double top. USD/CAD generally cheered the oil rally as it gave back the gains from a day ago.
Cable was another example of a U-turn. It started European trading at 1.3060 and climbed to 1.3133 at the highs early in US trade but fell into the London close and continued back down to 1.3072. It's a big week ahead for UK economic data.
The euro hit a two-week high of 1.1324 in defiance of a crowded short trade but was unable to push the issue as it slipped back to 1.1295 just ahead of the weekly close.
On the week, the Australian dollar led the way while the Swiss franc lagged.
