- EUR/USD overcomes and closes above 50% retracement of the November/January slide at 1.3570.
- Canadian retail sales rise 1.3% in November
- BOE’s Posen: Inflation spike temporary, to fall well below target
- Canada’s Flaherty: We’re done with the Canadian Peso…
- S&P 500 rises 0.2% to 1283
- US 10-yr note yields fall 5 bp to 3.40%.
EUR/USD opened firm and ended firmer in US trade, overcoming the 50% retracement of the 1.4280/1.2860 decline late this morning at 1.3570. Late in the session it triggered a barrier option at the 1.3600 level and extended its climb to 1.3626.
Dwindling near-term European sovereign debt fears along with rising German yields are prompting traders to cover stale EUR shorts across the board, boosting EUR/JPY and EUR/CHF in addition to EUR?USD.
GBP/USD firmed above the 1.6000 late in the US afternoon with real-money buying a feature in the latter part of the day. Technically the pound looks set to move up to the 1.6150 area early next week.
USD/JPY was very quiet, dipping slightly against the dollar but dips were limited by JPY weakness versus the EUR and GBP.
CHF was weak today as the perceived need for safe-havens ebbed with the sovereign debt crisis well out of the spotlight, at least temporarily. EUR/CHF closes at 1.3055, basically the highs for the week and the highest level in a month.
It was a mixed bag for commodity currencies today. CAD firmed on upbeat (if dated) retail sales data while AUD gave up early gains, closing just below 0.99 for the week.
Commodities were generally firm today with gold and oil exceptions. Gold continues to slide (closing at $1342) as the European debt situation fades and oil runs into profit-taking above the $90/92 area. It ends the week at $89.20. A margin hike in Gold and silver hurt those markets as well.
