Forex news for Americas trading on August 19, 2019:
- Trump says Fed should cut by 100 bps and restart QE
- Fed's Rosengren: We have to be careful not to ease too much when we don't have significant problems
- Boris Johnson in letter to Tusk: I very much hope we will leave with a deal
- Twitter discloses state-backed operation in Hong Kong
- Italy's PD has had 'good' informal talks with 5-Star on a new government - report
- Pence: Beijing needs to respect integrity of Hong Kong's laws
Markets:
- S&P 500 up 35 points to 2923
- WTI crude up $1.32 to $56.19
- US 10-year yields up 5 bps to 1.60%
- Gold down $17 to $1496
- USD leads, CAD lags
Newsflows was light to start the week. There was nothing on the economic calendar until Rosengren's interview popped up on the agenda. His comments were in-character but he cracked the door open to something more dovish.
It didn't matter because the late-day move in the US dollar was higher. Before then, the FX market had been curiously flat throughout the session, even with markets elsewhere on the move.
The primary action was versus the commodity currencies. The loonie got not love from higher crude prices as flows drove the pair higher by 60 pips to wipe out Friday's loss. Watch the August high of 1.3345 in the day ahead.
EUR/USD was a disappointment. Germany has been easing away from fiscal restraint but after earlier gains, the euro gave it all back and slipped a dozen pips lower to end the day.
Cable continues to consolidate above 1.20 as the market waits on Brexit news. It finished 15 pips lower on the day after a pair of failed rallies.
Gold sagged under $1500 in the second day of losses. It's stuck in the recent range and looking to central banks and sentiment for some indication on which way it will break.
