Forex news for North American trad him him ing on March 30, 2021.
- The US stocks close lower on the day
- Fed's Williams conducting virtual event
- Crude oil prices slip as the Suez Canal reopens. Price settles at $60.55.
- Pres. Biden infrastructure plan trickling out.
- Month-end rebalancing flows point to moderate USD selling - Citi
- Treasury yields broke out on Feb 16. How FX has fared since then
- Fed's Kaplan: Fed should be taking action once benchmarks for jobs/inflation are met.
- Fed's Bostic: Hopefully we will see large job numbers ahead
- European equity close: DAX breaks 15,000
- IMF's Georgieva highlights global divergences in the recovery
- The lab-leak coronavirus theory isn't going away
- US March consumer confidence 109.7 vs 96.9 expected
- Biden "preparing to go to the mat" for corporate tax hike - report
- FHFA January US house price index +1.0% vs +1.2% m/m expected
- US January Case-Shiller house price index +11.2 vs +10.5% expected
- CME to launch bitcoin micro futures
- Gold nears the March low in $30 fall
- The USD is the strongest and the JPY is the weakest as NA traders enter for the day
- Germany to reassess AstraZeneva covid vaccine
- Germany March preliminary CPI +1.7% vs +1.7% y/y expected
A snapshot of other markets near the close for the day is showing:
- Spot gold down $28.70 or -1.68% at $1683.48
- Silver is down $-0.68 or -2.77% at $23.97
- WTI crude oil futures are down $-1.13 or -1.82% at $60.44
- Bitcoin is trading up $1320 or 2.31% at $58,552
The US market had strongly Case Shiller housing data and very strong consumer confidence for March. The housing data has had a strong run over the last Covid year as homeowners moved out of cities into more rural areas post covid. Relatively low interest rates, higher net worth, low supply of homes on the market also spurred sales and raised prices.
For the Conference Board consumer confidence, the beat was impressive with expectations and current situation also rising sharply. Although the data is still below pre-covid levels, the hopes for reopening, stimulus checks and things like home prices are giving the consumer added confidence.
The good news is that is good for growth. The not so good news is it can also lead to higher rates/higher inflation and that can have implications in other markets.
US yields did move higher with the 10 year moving to a high of 1.776%. That took the yield to a new cycle high - and new high going back to January 22. The yields did move back down (currently at 1.712%), but the trend remains a concern as the markets weigh growth with higher rates.
In the forex market, the better data, and the higher initial rates helped to support an already supported dollar. The USD is ending the day as the strongest of the majors. The JPY and AUD were the weakest.
The USDJPY increased by 0.52% on the day. The pair trended higher for most of the trading day and reached the highest level going back to March 26, 2020. Along, the way, the pair today moved above the June high at 109.856. The high price reached 110.42.
For the AUDUSD, the greenback rose 0.48% on the day. For it, the price fell back below key 100 hour and 100 day MAs at 0.7617 area. The low extended to 0.75846 at the low. The pairs move back below the 100 hour and 100 day MAs tilted the bias back in favor of the sellers.
In other pairs:
- The USDCHF moved to the highest level since July 2020
- The GBPUSD moved below its 100 hour MA at 1.37506 (closing at 1.3735).
- The USDCAD based near the 100 hour MA (currently at 1.25942) and closed above the level.
US stocks closed modestly lower, but off the lows for the day. The declines were led by the Dow which fell -0.31%. The Nasdaq was the only pair to trade in the black today, but fell off into the close and closed down -0.11%.
In the European market, the major indices all closed higher on the day with the German Dax leading the charge with a gains of 1.29%. The Dax traded and closed above the 15000 level for the first time.
