- US weekly jobless claims fall to 432,000 from 454,000
- NY NAPM dips to 59.7 in December from 62.9 in November
- Tear gas used on opposition protests in Tehran
- Chicago PMI revised lower just one day after release: now 57.9 from 60.0
- US 10-year notes reach 3.88% yield intraday
- Oil brushes $80 on Iran, US growth outlook
EUR/USD was quite choppy in US trade but it spent the bulk of the morning giving back earlier gains. It looks as though traders jumped on reports that there would be heavy demand for EUR/USD and interest to sell USD/JPY at the 16:00 fixing. By the time the fixing rolled around, many had already been squeezed out of there positions. EUR/USD fell to 1.4308 in the run-up to the fixing but bounced to around 1.4347 as 16:00 GMT passed. It spent the balance of the shortened session on the defensive between 1.4715 and 1.4750.
USD/JPY shrugged off reports of fix-related selling and made new highs at 93.10 at the fixing. It extended gains to 93.14 in early afternoon where large offers were seen via EBS.
Cable was insanely volatile, rallying a full 400 pips from yesterday’s lows before settling around 1.6150. 30 pip random swings were plentiful.
AUD held up well with traders extrapolating US economic strength to mean global growth will get a boost in early 2010. AUD/JPY was a big mover to the topside today. AUD ends at 89.80 after trading as high as .09008 several times in London this morning. USD/CAD ends near session lows of 1.0465 on growth hopes for 2010.
All the best to the ForexLive community. All of us here wish you a happy and prosperous 2010.
