Forex news for US trading on December 20, 2017:
- Nov US existing home sales 5.81m vs 5.53m expected
- German Conservatives and SPD to start formal talks on government Jan 7 - joint statement
- EIA US weekly oil inventories -6495K vs -3150K expected
- BOE's Carney: I don't expect Bitcoin to come under our regulations
- OPEC, non-OPEC compliance at 122% in November
- NYSE files for Bitcoin long and short ETFs
- Trump: Advisors say the market still hasn't fully priced in the tax plan
- White House aide says Trump signing tax bill could be delayed until January - report
- December Belgian business confidence +0.1 vs +1.6 prior
- Carney: An early agreement on Brexit transition rules needed
- Canada October wholesale sales +1.5% vs +0.5% expected
Markets:
- Gold up $3 TO $1265
- WTI crude up 52-cents to $58.09
- US 10-year yields up 3 bps to 2.49%
- S&P 500 down 1 point to 2680
- CAD leads, JPY lags
In all the talk about tax reform and stock rallies, the story this week is the rise in global bonds, led by(but limited to) the US and Germany. US 10-s rose another 3 basis points to 2.49% on Wednesday, which is the best since March. German 10s are up 10 bps in two days.
The move is putting a bid in yen crosses with EUR/JPY up 107 pips on Wednesday to 134.73.
USD/JPY held a steady bid as it crept up to 113.40 from 113.15.
EUR/USD caught a bid into the London fix for the second time this week. It rallied quickly to 1.1902 from 1.1850 before slipping back to 1.1880.
GBP/USD also hit the highs of the day at the fix, at 1.3420. Carney's appearance in parliament was a non-event in terms of trading. The slipped back to 1.3388.
USD/CAD was pulled lower in part due to some stronger Canadian data, strong oil and a selloff in Canadian bonds. The drop makes yesterday's rejection of the key 1.1915 level complete. Last at 1.2830.
AUD/USD chopped down to 0.7660 then up to 0.7675 and then back to 0.7665 on the usual ebb and flow.
