Forex news for North American trading on Sept 2, 2021:
- US initial jobless claims 340K versus 342K estimate
- US July factory orders +0.4% m/m vs +0.3% expected
- US July trade balance -$70.1B vs -$71.0B expected
- Canada July building permits -3.9% vs +0.3% expected
- Canada July international merchandise trade balance +0.78B vs +$1.40B expected
- Sen. Joe Manchin says Democrats should "hit pause" on $3.5T stimulus
- US authorizes release of 1.5 million barrels of oil from strategic reserve
- Xi: China will establish a stock exchange in Beijing
- US August Challenger layoffs 15.7k vs 18.9k prior
Markets:
- Gold down $4 to $1809
- US 10-year yields down 1.2 bps to 1.290%
- S&P 500 up 12 points to 4536
- WTI crude oil up $1.11 to $69.70
- NZD leads, JPY lags
Jitters ahead of non-farm payrolls continued to percolate despite a fresh post-pandemic low in initial jobless claims. The price action started in Asia as the Australian and New Zealand dollars crept higher and that continued into New York trade as a broad sell-USD theme took over.
The loonie was slow to join the party but once crude jumped to a one-month high it quickly caught up, driving USD/CAD down 50 pips to a two-week low.
The euro was impressive once again as it climbed for the fifth straight day and finished at the highs at 1.1875. The late July highs just above 1.1900 are now in play into the US jobs report.
Cable also rallied to a two week high and has now erased the mid-August delta-inspired swoon. IT climbed 60 pips on the day and was particularly strong through the option expiry and London fix but hardly took a step back afterwards.
USD/JPY was less of a mover as bonds were largely flat and general dollar selling balanced the upward pressure from another record in stocks.
