Forex news for US trading on March 14, 2016:

  • OPEC monthly report: Oil market surplus will increase to 760K bpd from 720k bpd in last month's estimate
  • Putin orders the main part of army to withdrawal from Syria
  • Global oil freeze initiative 'acceptable' for Iraq - fin min
  • Kuwait oil minister says it's difficult to imagine freeze by some countries and not others
  • ECB QE count: QE €12.809B vs €13.238B last week
  • ECB's Villeroy: Eurozone inflation remains too low
  • Iran and Russia talking cooperation but no signs Iran willing to consider freeze
  • Merkel says goal remains to reinstate Schengen border system
  • Teranet Canada Feb house price index +6.5% y/y vs +5.9% y/y prior
  • UK govt to introduce £7.20/hour national minimum wage from April 1
  • Kocherlakota: US and China need to accept the inevitable and plan accordingly

Markets:

  • WTI crude oil down $1.25 to $37.25
  • Gold down $18 to $1232
  • US 10-year yields down 2 bps to 1.966%
  • JPY leads, NZD lags

Markets didn't have a lot to think about in terms of news. The OPEC monthly report was a highlight and crude came under pressure afterwards. WTI fell as low as $36.68 but later recovered to $37.29.

USD/CAD followed oil and ramped up above 1.3300 from 1.3240 at the start of North American trading. Later in the day, risk sentiment improved and USD/CAD slipped back to 1.3266.

The larger theme was strength in the US dollar ahead of the Fed. USD/JPY dipped down early to test the European low but strong bids at 113.50 held and it crept back to 113.80. The BOJ decision is due later.

Cable was under constant pressure and wiped out the entire gain from Friday in a steady decline to 1.4295 from 1.4350 at the start of New York trading.

EUR/USD made a brief break below Friday's post-ECB low of 1.1080 but only by a few pips before rebounding and finishing near 1.1100. Keep a close eye on that level in the day ahead.

The antipodeans unwound Friday's strength with the kiwi dollar in particular under heavy selling pressure. It started at 0.6710 and sank to 0.6660. The Aussie selling came earlier in Asia but a bounce to 0.7550 was wiped out and it hit a session low of 0.7492 late in the day.