Forex news for US trading on August 30, 2017:
- August US ADP employment 237K vs 185K expected
- US Q2 GDP +3.0% vs +2.7% expected
- Canada Q2 current account balance -$16.3B vs -$17.4B expected
- Germany August preliminary CPI y/y +1.8% vs +1.8% expected
- Russia unwilling to put new sanctions on North Korea
- Trump wants to reduce burden on companies and workers
- Mexican central bank raises GDP forecasts
- "Betting on a rational US government can be tricky" - S&P
- Warren Buffett says Congress likely to deliver tax cut this year
- Buffett: I'd like to invest $60 billion of cash and keep $20 billion cash
- Buffett: US is about a 2% growth economy
- EIA weekly US oil inventories -5392K vs -1750K expected
- Goldman Sachs says Harvey makes government shutdown less likely
- EU chief Brexit negotiator Verhofstadt: Brexit talks need to move to actual negotiations
- Fed's Powell: Bank boards shouldn't feel buried in paperwork
- Harvey weakens as it moves inland, remains tropical storm
Markets
- Gold down $1 to $1308
- WTI crude oil down 40-cents to $46.03
- US 10-year yields up 1.2 bps to 2.14%
- S&P 500 up 10 points to 2457
- GBP leads, CHF lags
It was a nice old-fashioned data-driven trading day on Wednesday. Strong prints on GDP and ADP gave the US dollar a lift and that continued throughout the session. There was a hiccup when Trump tweeted on North Korea but the market quickly forgot about it.
The reversal in EUR/USD was the story for the second day as it fell below 1.19 after touching 1.2074 a day ago. The pair was at 1.1950 as US traders arrived but fell quickly on GDP then sank further to a low of 1.1883 late in the day.
USD/JPY gained 50 pips in in Europe and Asia and tacked on a few more in New York but the gains were tough to hold despite the risk-positive mood. From 110.15 at the start of trading, the pair finished at 110.25.
Cable took a swoon on the GDP numbers, hitting stops in a fall to a session low of 1.2875 from 1.2920. It recovered over the next hour to completely erase the gains. That switch led to some fresh buying and a high of 1.2938 but offers there marked a minor intraday double top and the pair faded to unchanged on the day at 1.2921.
The commodity currencies were big movers in North American trade with USD/CAD climbing 112 pips on the day to 1.2623. That's the biggest one-day gain in four weeks. The losses were in part to falling oil prices.
AUD/USD slumped to 0.7900 after hitting as high as 0.7996 in Asia. It was a steady slide and the pair is closing at the lows of the day in a bearish outside day. Chinese data later could have a further impact on the Aussie.
