Forex news for New York trading on March 17, 2016"

  • US initial jobless claims w/e 12 March 265k vs 268k exp
  • Q4 2015 US current account balance -125.3bn vs -118.0bn exp
  • March 2016 US Philly Fed business index 12.4 vs -1.7 exp
  • JPMorgan now sees two Fed hikes instead of three
  • January 2016 US JOLTS 5.541m vs 5.500m exp
  • February 2016 US leading indicator 0.1% vs 0.2% exp m/m
  • South Africa raises benchmark rate to 7.00% from 6.75%
  • Canada Jan wholesale trade sales 0.0% vs +0.3% exp
  • BOE MPC Minutes: Brexit referendum may delay some spending decisions. Notes increased uncertainty
  • Bank of England MPC 9-0 votes to keep rates unchanged. Exp 9-0 unch

Markets:

  • Gold down $4 to $1257
  • WTI crude up $1.88 to $40.34
  • US 10-year yields down 1.2 bps to 1.89%
  • S&P 500 up 13 points to 2040
  • NZD leads, USD lags

The Fed reverberations continued to hit through Asian and European trading but trading flattened out in New York.

The high for the day in EUR/USD came before US traders arrived and from there it was a chop into a pennant formation with the top at 1.1340 and a dip down to 1.1278. Greg has a great video out on how to trade it.

USD/JPY was a big headscratcher as it dropped down to 110.67 after the Feb double bottom broke. That was no surprise but why it almost immediately ripped up to 112.00 afterwards isn't. There was talk about the BOJ checking rates but a report said they were just calling around trying to figure out what was going on. That was when the US dollar bottomed for the day right across the board. In USD/JPY it eventually sagged back down to 110.96 and finished at 111.39.

Cable managed to make fresh highs after the BOE minutes hit and as a result of buy stops above 1.4415-30. That led to a quick move higher and eventually 1.4500 was touched. Sellers there have held it in check around 1.4475.

Oil was on a tear but USD/CAD made a low of 1.2942 in early European and that's held. The pair bounced up to 1.3050 and has lately sank back down to 1.2983. A bit story in US trading was the rip in oil as it climbed to $40.32 from $39.00.

AUD/USD tried to make a fresh high in US trading and climbed an extra 5 pips above Europe but there was no fresh buying appetite above 0.7650.