- US weekly jobless claims rise 51,000 to 454,000; snow storms blamed
- US durable goods orders fall 2.5%, non-defense capital goods ex-aircraft up 1.4%; aircraft orders down 99% in December
- KC Fed index falls to 11 in January from 21 in December
- ISM December manufacturing index revised up to 58.5 from 57.0
- US pending home sales rise 2.0 in December, down 4.2% from year-earlier
- ECB’s Gonzalez-Paramo: Must pay attention to imported inflation.
- IMF: Fiscal outlook worse in big economies; Japan should raise VAT
- Australian PM: Gilliard: Every dollar of flood levy will go to repairs
- US yields fall 3 bp to 3.39%; UST/bund spread contracts to 19 bp
- S&P 500 rises 0.2% to 1300
- Gold falls below key $1315 support; closes at $1311.50
EUR/USD ran into profit-taking above the 1.3750 level several times today but dips were rather shallow. Central banks were rumored to be steady profit-takers today after days of steady buying on the 1.35 and 1.36 handles. We close just below the 61.8% retracement of the 1.4280/1.2860 decline (1.3738) today, at 1.3725.
USD/JPY consolidated gains after its S&P downgrade during the London morning.It was unable to build on its European gains and consolidated in an 82.75/83.10 range in New York. It did close above trendline resistance at 82.80. Moving averages re all spooled up and a breakout could be ahead, but this is USD/JPY, the perennial tease.
Cable as extremely volatile today, squeezing as high as 1.5990 before sliding back to 1.5890 in afternoon trade. We end at 1.5830. Sellers are heavy from 1.5990 through 1.6015: stops are seen above that level.
USD/CAD traded with an offered tone today despite very soft oil prices (down $2 to 85.35) and a slide in gold below important support at $1315. AUD offers are said to be very thick from 1.00 to 1.0025 while bids are still down at 0.9800/10…mixed business within that range…
