August 25, 2017. The USD is weaker vs most currency pairs

As the North American traders enter for the day, the GBP is the strongest, while the JPY is the weakest. However, relatively speaking the changes today are contained. As the market prepares for Yellon at 10 AM ET/1400 GMT and Draghi at 3 PM ET/1900 GMT, the market is giving the EUR a stronger bias (up against all with the exception of the GBP), while the USD is more negative (it is down vs. all major currencies with the exception of the JPY). US durable goods orders for July will be released at 8:30 AM ET/1230 GMT with the headline expected to show a decline of -6.0% vs a 6.4% gain last month (was revised from 6.5% originally).

The volatility - measured by the low to high trading ranges - shows that all the followed currency pairs are trading well below their 22 day average trading ranges. The market is simply playing the waiting game for the speeches today. On the other hand, they may also be expecting little from the central bank heads as well (so why go anywhere?). Of course with Draghi speaking at 1900 GMT, European traders will be home. So the liquidity risks will also be high. All of which may quiet the market before the storm.

A snapshot of the other markets are showing:

  • Spot gold trading near unchanged on the day at $1286.33
  • WTI crude oil up $0.30 or 0.61% to $47.72
  • US yields are trading around unchanged levels. 2 year at 1.337%.5 years at 1.7833%. 10 year at 2.1973%. 30 year at 2.771%
  • US stock futures in premarket trading are up. S&P is up 7 points. Nasdaq futures are up 24 points. Dow futures are up 47 points. Gary Cohn said Trump will announce major push for tax reform next week and that he would stay in the Trump administration. He did say the "administration must do better". Cohn was rumored to be leaving after the comments from Trump last week after the Charlottesville tragedy.
  • In Europe today: Dax is up 0.3%. Cac is up 0.2%. UK FTSE is up -0.4%.
  • 10 year yields in Europe are higher: Germany 0.4%, up 2.5 bp. France 0.717%, up 2.9 bp. UK 1.074%, up 2.1 bp. Spain 1.630%, up 3.2 bp. Italy 2.128%, up 1.6 bp.