Forex news for New York trade on February 16, 2021
- US February Empire Fed +12.1 vs +6.0 expected
- Fed's Daly says unwanted inflation is not a practical risk right now
- Fed's George: Single-family housing is 'booming' and looks poised to remain strong for some time
- More from Feds George: Outlook pretty optimistic for 2H 2021
- Report: Oil rally makes it more likely OPEC+ will bring back production, but not until after April
- Winter weather curbs US oil production by 2 million barrels per day
- New Zealand GlobalDairyTrade price index +3.0%
- Canada January existing home sales +2.0% m/m vs +7.2% prior
- Fed's Kaplan speech cancelled due to weather
Markets:
- GBP leads, JPY lags
- Gold down $24 to $1794
- US 10-year yields up 9.9 bps to 1.31%
- S&P 500 down 2 points to 3932
- WTI crude oil up 60-cents to $60.07
Bonds were the big story as yields marched higher at the long end of the curve, breaking the January highs and then jumping.
In Asia and early in Europe the broader market shrugged it off but that changed when New York began to arrive and that's when dollar buying really ramped up. It was a broad theme with USD climbing 40-60 pips against just about everything and hanging onto most of the gains throughout the day.
One exception was cable, which made a big 40-pip move into the London fix to stay level with the dollar on the day.
That wasn't the case with the euro as it rose to 1.2169 early in Europe then blunged down to 1.2106.
The spot to watch may be USD/JPY and the yen crosses in general. The pair hit a four-month high at 106.00 and finished at the highs. It's the most straightforward play on higher US yields in the FX market.
