Forex news for US trading on November 29, 2017:
- Q3 US GDP (second reading) +3.3% vs +3.2% expected
- Yellen says US economy and global expansions "increasingly broad based"
- Germany Nov CPI mm 0.3% vs 0.2% expected
- OPEC committee recommends 9-month production cut extension
- EU Parliament: Not enough progress made in Brexit talks
- EIA weekly US oil inventories -3429K vs -2950K expected
- OPEC committee said to be focused on 9-month cut extension
- US Oct pending home sales +3.5% vs +1.0% expected
- Trump says additional major sanctions on North Korea coming today
- BOE's Carney: All sides must work together on Libor/Sonia transition
- Dudley: Fed is starting to think about its own digital currency
Markets:
- Gold down $10 to $1283
- WTI crude down 56-cents to $57.43
- US 10-year yields up 6 bps to 2.38%
- S&P 500 down 1 point to 2626
- GBP leads, JPY lags
Bitcoin was on the tip of everyone's tongue today as it cut through $10,000, roared to $11,434 and then sank back to $9009 in a wild day of trading that featured outages at exchanges, rumours and plenty of volatility.
It was choppy in FX as well. Yellen and the US GDP report boosted USD/JPY up to 112.15 from 111.65 as the rebound continues in the pair or a second day. Signs of progress on the tax bill were a help as well. Last at 111.93.
Cable was whippy into the London fix for the second day but signs of progress on Brexit talks is the underlying story. Headlines from EU parliament led to some brief selling but that was likely old news and cable hit a high of 1.3448 later before sliding back to 1.3410 to end.
EUR/USD skidded after Yellen and hit 1.1818 but bottomed shortly afterwards as bund yields rose and German CPI edged up. From there it was a climb up to 1.1860 in a solid show of resilience that put it near the top of the pack on the day.
USD/CAD struggled on a 1% drop in oil prices. Crude had been higher but worries about optionality for OPEC weighed, despite higher US inventories. USD/CAD rose as high as 1.2874 and is less than a half-cent away from the October highs.
The Aussie was also under pressure as it slipped down to 0.7552 before bouncing up to 0.7571 late.
