Forex news for North American trading on August 17, 2018:
- US and China plot roadmap to trade deal
- U Mich consumer sentiment 95.3 vs 98.0 expected
- Canada July CPI +3.0% vs +2.5% y/y expected
- Mexico economy minister says hopes a NAFTA breakthrough can happen shortly
- S&P cuts Turkey rating to B+ from BB-
- Fitch affirms Russia at BBB- with a positive outlook
- CFTC Commitments of Traders: Euro longs pack it in
- NY Fed Q3 GDP Nowcast cut to 2.39% from 2.57%
- White House adviser Hassett: We're very close to trade deal with Mexico
- Weekly US Baker Hughes oil rig count 869 vs 869 prior
- Nvidia guidance shows the demand for crypto mining hardware sinks
- Elon Musk didn't do himself any favors in New York Times interview
Markets:
- WTI crude up 0.48 to $65.94
- Gold up $10 to $1184
- S&P 500 up 9 points to 2850
- US 10-year yields float at 2.86%
- AUD leads, USD lags
The day started with a surprisingly hot Canadian CPI report at 3.0% y/y versus 2.5% expected. It was driven in part by high services inflation and not just energy and it sent USD/CAD quickly down to 1.3075 from 1.3150. It bounced back to 1.3100 but sold off again late on a better tone to China-US talks with the pair finishing just above support at 1.3050.
Cable was a solid performer in North America as it finished at a daily high at 1.2749 after touching 1.2700 in European trading.
The yen was generally sold after news that China and the US are hoping to work towards a Trump-Xi summit and a trade deal in November and that helped USD/JPY rally to 110.65 from a low of 110.30.
Generally, other currencies made better headway against the dollar on the trade talks with AUD climbing to the best levels of the week at 0.7319.
EUR/USD also used the headlines to get further off the floor in a rally to 1.1435. The May/June lows near 1.1500 are acting as resistance but at least the euro has shown some life.
Have a great weekend.
