Forex news for North American trading on February 26, 2021:
- US January PCE core +1.5% y/y vs +1.4% expected
- US January advance goods trade balance -$83.7B vs -$83.0B expected
- U Mich February final consumer sentiment 76.8 vs 76.5 expected
- ECB's Stournaras: ECB should accelerate PEPP purchases
- BOE's Ramsden: Rising yields reflect good news on economy
- Canada January industrial product prices +2.0% m/m vs +1.9% expected
- US sanctions 76 Saudi officials over Khashoggi killing
- Baker Hughes US oil rig count 309 vs 303 expected
- ECB's Visco: Extreme prudence must be used before exiting support measures
- Canada April-Dec budget deficit C$248B vs C10.9B a year ago
- US removes key stumbling block in global deal on digital tax
- CFTC Commitments of Traders: Pound gets a bit of love
Markets:
- Gold down $40 to $1730
- US 10-year yields down 12 bps to 1.40%
- WTI crude down $1.84 to $61.69
- S&P 500 down 18 points to 3811
- USD leads, AUD lags
The reverberations from yesterday's bond implosion left broader markets in a delicate state. Even as yields turned much lower, FX risk trades couldn't get a footing. How much of that was month-end and how much was jitters was open to debate.
The big loser was AUD, which fell a whopping 2.2% in what's been a straight-line fall to 0.77 from 0.80 just yesterday. It went out on the lows as there was no respite.
It was followed closely by the kiwi, which fell almost as much. CAD held up better despite the 3% decline in oil prices but still rose to 1.27 after touching 1.2470 a day ago.
The euro was sucked lower in the US dollar selling. There were some bids into the London fix and it bounced to 1.2145 but fell 80 pips from there and also finished on the lows.
Sterling showed a bit more resilience but continued the fall back below 1.40 and all the way to 1.3888 in early European trading but was higher from there and flat in New York trade overall.
Japanese buyers of Treasuries may have contributed to flows that knocked yields down and propped up USD/JPY in the process as the pair tacked on 30 pips.
Have a great weekend, it was a wild week.
