Forex news for North American trade on May 15, 2018:
- US April retail sales control group +0.4% vs +0.4% expected
- US Empire manufacturing for May 20.1 vs 15.0 exp.
- US business inventories for March comes in at 0.0% vs 0.1% expected
- US May NAHB homebuilder sentiment 70 vs 69 expected
- Italian 5-star Movement leader DiMaio says government is almost complete
- Italy: The Five-Star and League pact agreement is radical
- Fed's Williams: Not seeing signs inflation is taking off
- Fed's Williams: Sees US growth around 2.5% in 2018, 2019
- 10 year yield moves to the highest level since July 2011.
- Bill Gross says US 30-year yields won't break 3.22%
- Fed's Clarida: Would not focus solely on unemployment but broader measures
- New Zealand GDT price index +1.9%
- CME to gauge interest for ether futures but commodity/security classification looms
- Fed's Kaplan says he's not set on 2 or 3 more rate hikes in 2018
- Kaplan: Most global factors are deflationary
- Guajardo says does NOT see NAFTA deal before May 17
Markets:
- Gold down $21 to $1292
- WTI crude up 21-cents to $71.16
- US 10-year yields up 6.4 bps to 3.07%
- S&P 500 down 18 points to 2711
- USD leads, NZD lags
The trading day started out with a bit of an imbroglio in USD/CAD as a newswire came out with a headline indicating a NAFTA agreement on Thursday. That sent the pair down 50 pips to 1.2805 but it was corrected about 10 minutes later and the move was reversed.
Minutes later the retail sales report hit. The headlines didn't blow anyone away but the main headlines met expectations and there were some small upward revisions. That was enough to get the dollar moving to the upside and as bonds sold off the trickle turned into a flood.
USD/CAD continued to 1.2925 at the highs with EUR/USD sinking down to 1.1820 from 1.1880 before retail sales and 1.1922 earlier.
USD/JPY rallied to 110.30 in a big technical break above the May highs and the 200-day moving average. The 200dma then turned into support on a retracement and the pair is poised to finish at 110.33.
Cable was muddier. It broke down to 1.3450 from 1.3550 but bounced all the way to 1.3511 which is back within the recent range and down just 45 pips on the day.
The kiwi continues to be the most-hated currency as it dropped to 0.6860. It barely bounced in the midday USD retracement despite a big bump from the rest of the commodity currencies. It then finished on the lows at 0.6859.
