Forex news for North American trading on June 23, 2017:

  • Canada May CPI 1.3% vs +1.5% y/y expected
  • ECB Draghi: Tells EU leaders wages to blame for low inflation
  • Fed's Mester: Would need to see more weak inflation and sharp drop in demand to change hike forecast
  • Mester: It's time to gradually remove accommodation
  • Baker Hughes US oil rig count 758 vs 747 prior
  • Bullard: It's a distinct possibility that Fed will announce balance sheet policy in Sept
  • Bullard Q&A: Influencing all grocery store prices with Whole Foods' market share is unrealistic
  • Fed's Bullard: Current level of Fed rates appropriate
  • May US new home sales 610K vs 590K expected
  • June prelim US Markit manufacturing PMI 52.1 vs 53.0 expected
  • June Belgian business confidence -2.0 vs -1.1 prior
  • Greece raised to Caa2 by Moody's, outlook to positive
  • ECB orders Banca Popolare di Vicenza and another Italian bank closed
  • Fed's Powell talks about counterparties for clearing swaps

Markets:

  • Gold up $5 to $1256
  • WTI crude up $0.37 to $43.10
  • S&P 500 up 3.8 points to 2438
  • US 10-year yields down 0.5 bps to 2.14%
  • EUR leads, CAD lags

Strong Canadian growth wasn't enough to spark any inflation in May and that means the Bank of Canada probably won't hike rates next month. USD/CAD jumped 80 pips on the soft CPI report and briefly climbed above 1.33 before slipping back to 1.3264.

EUR/USD was also a climbing as the US dollar was generally soft. The euro was near 1.1160 as North America rolled in and it stalled above 1.1180 for a period before a second wind pushed it above 1.1200 and to unchanged on the week after losses Mon/Tues.

USD/JPY was in a tight chop in the 111.20 to 111.30 range. It tried each side a half-dozen times but there was no enthusiasm for a move.

Yesterday there was talk about a BOE hike at the next meeting but it's a tough story to sell. Still, there were some buyers of cable as it climbed 40 pips on the day. The early London high of 1.2744 held, however, and it faded to close at 1.2716.

AUD/USD also failed to break the earlier high of 0.7583 despite a solid attempt. It faded back to 0.7570 in posting a quarter-cent gain on the day.

Have a great weekend.