Forex news for North American trade on September 6, 2018:
- BOC's Wilkins: We debated dropping 'gradual approach' to hikes
- US July factory orders -0.8% vs -0.6% expected
- US August ISM non-manufacturing index 58.5 vs 56.8 expected
- August final US Markit services PMI 54.8 vs 55.2 expected
- Canada July building permits -0.1% vs +1.0% expected
- US initial jobless claims 203K vs. 213K expected
- US Q2 final non-farm productivity +2.9% vs +3.0% expected
- ADP US August employment +163K vs +200K
- Fed's Evans: FOMC should raise rates to neutral and 'likely a bit beyond'
- Japan has been curiously quiet in the trade war, that may be about to change
- Freeland: NAFTA talks atmosphere continues to be good
- Magnitude 8.1 earthquake hits near Fiji, no early warning for tsunami
- Weekly US oil inventories -4302K vs -2900K expected
- Fed's Williams: No need to hike more quickly
- Fed's Williams: This is a pretty good time for the national economy
Markets:
- Gold up $3 to $1200
- WTI crude down 81-cents to $67.91
- S&P 500 down 11 points to 2878
- US 10-year yields down 2.5 bps to 2.88%
- JPY leads, NZD lags
It was another lively day with some headlines driving quick moves.
The euro and pound were mostly sidelined with Brexit headlines quiet and economic data not changing the picture.
USD/JPY was sold throughout the day. There was no trigger to the initial selling and it left plenty of people scratching their heads and pointing to the possibility of China tariffs being announced later. Sentiment souring also hurt the pair but that turned (and so did the pair) late in the day. The final act was a WSJ column citing Trump on potentially stirring up trade trouble with Japan.
USD/CAD was the other story. The NAFTA tone continued to be good but there was nothing solid either way. Oil slumped and stops were hit above 1.3200 causing a quick 26 pips spike to the highs of the day. It was steadily down form there until Wilkins hinted at a faster pace of hikes and that sent USD/CAD sharply lower down to 1.3140.
The rest of the commodity bloc was in the mood for consolidation.
Another spot that was active was EUR/CHF. The pair has been a steady mover for months as it sank down to 1.120 and is now testing the Aug/Sept low.
