Forex news for North American trade on December 14, 2018:

Markets:

  • Gold down $4 to $1238
  • WTI crude down $1.38 to $51.20
  • US 10-year yields down 2 bps to 2.89%
  • S&P 500 down 51 points to 2600
  • JPY leads, NZD lags

Weak data out of China raised fresh questions about global growth in Asia-Pacific trade and it was all downhill from there. The US dollar was strong heading into the session and very strong retail sales did nothing to stall the trend.

There was some heavy USD/JPY selling into the London fix as the pair quickly sank down to 113.40 from 113.60. Risk aversion hit harder later in the day and that extended the drop to 113.22 before a late bounce to 113.40.

Cable remains a basketcase. There were reports that May got exactly nothing in Brussels and cable hit 1.2530 early in North America. May's office later denied it and that might have helped in a rebound to 1.2582 but some broader USD selling hit around the same time.

EUR/USD was a laggard but the damage was done in Europe. After a second wave of selling sent it to a low of 1.1270, it recovered to 1.1305 at the end of the week.

The antipodeans bore the brunt of risk aversion throughout the day and both took sizeable losses. AUD/USD fell to 0.7151, which was the lowest since Halloween and a confirmation of last week's false breakout. NZD is in better shape but also at a two week low.

USD/CAD held up better accounting to its closer ties to the US than China, and the strong signs from the US consumer but oil selling late didn't do any favors for the Canadian dollar. Last up 35 pips to 1.3390.

Have a great weekend.