June 4, 2015, EUR is the strongest. AUD is the weakest.
As North American traders enter for the trading day, the EUR is the strongest currency, while the AUD is the weakest.
The EUR was boosted by continued rise in the German Bund yields. The 10 year bund is up to 0.92% from 0.88% yesterday. The spread between the 10 year US treasury and the bund has narrowed to 1.448 basis points and this is being cited as the reason for the flow of funds into the EUR and out of the dollar. The EURUSD has risen nearly 500 pips this week.
The weakest currency is the AUD. The trade data showed the largest deficit on record (blaming port closings due to severe weather), and retail sales were flat vs +0.3% estimate. The 2nd quarter is not getting off to a good start in Australia. Yesterday 1Q GDP was pretty darn good at +0.9% QoQ.
- US challenger job cuts YoY were down -22.5%. Total announced cuts were down 41k vs 61k.
- Nonfarm productivity is expected to decline -3.0% in the 1Q (prior estimate). 8:30 AM ET
- Unit labor costs are expected to rise by 6.1% vs. 5.0% in the 1Q (prior estimate). 8:30 AM ET
- US initial jobless claims expected come in at 278K vs. 282K last week. 8:30 AM ET
- US continuing claims are expected come in at 2207K vs. 2222K last week. 8:30 AM ET
- At 9:30 AM ET IMFs Christine Lagarde is expected to speak about the US economy
- Canada Ivey PMI index is expected to fall to 55.0 from 58.2. 10 AM ET
- At 12 PM ET, Fed's Tarullo speaks at a financial conference in New York
