Forex news for North American trade on October 12, 2018:
- Several UK cabinet ministers have discussed possibility of extending the implementation period
- EU diplomats confirm earlier report: UK floats longer transition
- Brexit talks have made progress, but no deal yet - report
- Oct prelim U Mich consumer sentiment 99.0 vs 100.5 expected
- US import price index Sept 0.5% versus 0.2% expected
- Canada Sept Teranet house price index +2.1% y/y vs +1.4% y/y prior
- Baker Hughes US oil rig count 869 vs 861 prior
- Kudlow: Think the economy has legs and staying power
- Turkish court sentences US pastor to three years in prison, but frees him on time served
- Jamie Dimon on the US economy: Rates should be around 4%
Markets:
- S&P 500 up 39 points to 2767
- WTI crude up 59-cents to $71.55
- Gold down $6 to $1218
- US 10-year yields up 1 bps to 3.16%
- USD leads, GBP lags
It's a big weekend for Brexit as the top negotiators try to make a deal ahead of next week's EU leaders meeting. The late reports hinted at signs of progress but the Buzzfeed report highlighted how many ways it could all fall apart, with many of May's allies reluctant to vote for her plan. Cable was under pressure throughout European trading and finished near the lows at 1.3150.
The euro was also under pressure. Italian headlines were minimal but it's clear that a protracted showdown is underway. EUR/USD fell as low as 1.1535 in late European trading before a small 20 pip bounce late.
Equity markets opened around where they finished but midway through trading they dropped into negative territory, in part due to more reports on China tensions and Kudlow denying that the Xi-Trump G20 talk was on. USD/JPY (for a change) followed the path of the risk trade in a slide to 111.88 from 112.30 but when stocks rebounded late, the pair climbed back to 112.20 into the end of the day.
USD/CAD finished flat on the day but fell to 1.3003 where bids ahead of the figure were tested and held a number of times. Oil ranged from $70.60 to $72.00 and the massive Canadian oil discount narrowed slightly. The prompted a lift back to 1.3050 before a late slide to 1.3027.
AUD/USD finished down 10 pips on the day. It had been higher at 0.7140 but gave back 25 pips in the latter half of US trading.
Have a great weekend.
