Forex news for New York trade on November 25, 2020:
- FOMC minutes: Market participants increasingly focused on how asset purchases might evolve
- October US personal spending +0.5% vs +0.4% expected
- US October new home sales 999K vs 975K expected
- US initial jobless claims 778K vs. 730K estimate
- US Q3 GDP (second look) +33.1% vs +33.1% expected
- US wholesale inventories for October (P) 0.9% vs. 0.4% estimate
- US Oct prelim durable goods orders +1.3% vs +0.9% expected
- CDC reports nearly 2000 US coronavirus deaths
- Ireland PM: 'It is tight... Time is running out' on Brexit deal
- US weekly oil inventories -754K vs +225K expected
- University of Michigan consumer sentiment for November (F) 76.9 vs. 77.0 preliminary
- Maradona dead at 60
Markets:
- Gold down $1 to $1806
- WTI crude oil up 85-cents to $45.77
- US 10-year yields flat at 0.88%
- S&P 500 down 4 points to 3631
- New Zealand dollar leads, USD lags
Flows and data competed today but ultimately it was flow that won out as the US dollar slid across the board ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.
The data had something for everything as claims continued to back up and personal income was surprisingly soft but new home sales and durable goods orders were strong. Ultimately though, any moves on the data were hard to detect.
Sterling impressively handled a few downtrodden headlines as it rallied right through them and continued to march to 1.3387 on strong bids through the London fix.
The euro also ignored new restrictions in Germany and finished near the highs of the day at 1.1917. That was generally a soft-USD story as it lost ground on most fronts.
The top performer this month continued to outperform as the kiwi marched above 0.7000 to pace the commodity currencies. CAD got a slight lift from higher oil prices but it was generally a tepid response to fresh crude highs.
One asset that didn't get much help from the softer US dollar was gold as it slipped to $1805 after rising as high as $1817. Bulls were looking for a bit more from the FOMC minutes. Certainly there was lots of talk about bond buying and when there's smoke there's fire but I don't sense any urgency from the Fed and that could mean more action is a 2021 story.
