Forex news for North American trade on December 18, 2017:
- NAHB housing market index 74 vs 70 pror
- City of London wants its own EU trade deal, Barnier says no
- Westpac Q4 New Zealand consumer survey 107.4 vs 112.4 prior
- Co-founder of Bitcoin.com sells all his Bitcoins, says it’s “as good as useless”
- Edmunds forecasts US auto sales of 16.8 million in 2018
- Saudi fiscal cap downgraded to 'huge' from 'enormous'
- US House to vote on tax bill early Tuesday
- Ramaphosa narrowly wins South African ANC leadership race
- Fed's Kashkari: Bitcoin craze is a bit like Beanie Babies
- Parts of a passenger train fall off bridge in Washington state
- Canadian Oct international securities transactions +$20.81B vs +$16.81 billion prior
Markets:
- Gold up $6 to $1261
- WTI crude down 8-cents to $57.22
- US 10-year yields up 3.6 bps to 2.39%
- S&P 500 up 14 points to 2690
- CHF leads, CAD lags
The US dollar struggled early but the move was flow driven. The dollar selling peaked into the London close with EUR/USD hitting 1.1834, touching above the 100-dma, and then falling back to 1.1782 afterwards.
A similar arc hit the US dollar elsewhere. USD/JPY inched slid down to 112.83 into the London fix, bottoming for the day there. Afterwards, it climbed to 112.57. The NHB data didn't have a noticeable effect on FX, neither did the rip in stock markets. One spot to watch this week will be bonds with 10-year yields nearing 2.40% again.
Cable benefitted early from upbeat comments on trade from Theresa May. The climb peaked at 1.3418 with a nearly 100 pip gain on the day but it later faded back to 1.3382 to finish up.
The commodity bloc was less volatile with USD/CAD trading in a narrow 1.2850-1.2880 range despite some hawkish comments from Poloz on the weekend.
NZD also finished flat on the day despite an early rally. The Australian dollar climbed 20 pips on the day to 0.7665 but faded late after a challenge of 0.7680.
Bitcoin, meanwhile, touched $19,511 before fading back to $18,713.
