Forex news for North American trade on November 19, 2020:
- Congress will resume covid stimulus negotiations
- US daily coronavirus cases 165,087 vs 164,382 prior
- Initial jobless claims for the current week 742K vs 700K estimate
- November Philly Fed 26.3 vs 23.0 expected
- Fed's Kaplan: Sees 2021 being very strong for US economy
- Fed's Mester says she's seeing a slowdown in US economic data
- UK and Italy virus case count numbers rise
- ECB's De Cos says doesn't exclude rate cut but are close to lower bound
- NYC mayor expects indoor dining to shut in a week or two
- US October existing home sales 6.85m vs 6.47m expected
- Barnier suspends Brexit negotiations because of a covid-positive test
- South Africa holds rates unchanged at 3.50%, as expected
- IMF's Georgieva: Global economic recovery may be losing momentum, risks are very high
Market:
- Gold down $8 to $1864
- WTI crude up 11-cents to $41.93
- US 10-year yields down 2.1 bps to 0.8488%
- S&P 500 up 13 points to 3581
- EUR leads, AUD lags
When you look at the daily tally, the moves are modest and that's a good reflection of the overall mood. There was no virus or economic data that caused a rethink for anyone but there remains a focus on Brexit as GBP sagged early but found a footing later.
There had been some risk aversion and the US dollar was solid at the start of New York trade but it unwound as the day wore on, in part due to signals that Congressional leaders were meeting on stimulus.
The euro made a particularly large move late as it climbed all the way to a session high at 1.1880 from as low as 1.1816 in early New York trade. The highs earlier this week at 1.1894 and 1.1891 are resistance levels to watch.
The Canadian dollar paced the commodity currencies as AUD and NZD gave back a small portion of recent gains. USD/CAD hit 1.3123 early in Europe but grinded lower from there down to 1.3065.
Gold was in focus early in trading as it quickly dipped to $1852 in a six dollar fall after initial jobless claims. The $1850 area has been a key support level for the past two months and it held as priced bounced to $1864 but the bulls are far from declaring victory.
