September 20, 2017. FOMC day

The NZD is the strongest currency in the snapshot as North American traders enter for the day, while the USD is the weakest. The FOMC day has finally arrived. Here is all you need to know in one handy post with many projections.

Before the announcement and press conference, the US existing home sales will be released at 10 AM ET/1400 GMT (est 5.45M annualized vs 5.44M last month). Crude oil inventories will be released for the current week at 10:30 AM ET/1430 GMT. The private data showed Crude oil inventories had a lower than expected build of 1443K vs 3900K estimate for the data today (for what it is worth)

The NZDUSD broke above a ceiling area on the hoourly chart at 0.7335-43 at around 2 AM ET/0600 GMT and raced higher (see chart below)

The USDs decline is led by a larger fall in the commodity currencies with the NZD, AUD and CAD the three weakest.

The changes and ranges shows the GBPUSD had an up and down day. The UK retail sales sent the pair racing to the upside on the beat but the momentum could not be sustained. The price came all the way back down from where it began before the release (the rise went up 96 pips and the down fell 92 pips - yikes). The GBPUSD is still up on the day, but only by 29 pips now.

The NZDUSD range is above its 22 day average at 87 pips vs 78 averaage. The EURUSD range is lagging with only 35 pip range vs the average around 89 pips.

In other markets today:

  • Spot gold is up $1.49 to $1312.59
  • WTI crude oil is trading at around $50, up $0.52 or 1.09%
  • US yields are lower: 2 year 1.389%, down 1.2 bp. 5 year 1.8192%, down -1.5 bp. 10 year 2.2304%, -1.4 bp. 30 year 2.8042%, -1.2 bp
  • US stocks in pre-market trading are little changed. S&P is up 0.5 points. Dow futures are down -6 points. Nasdaq futures are unchanged.
  • European stocks are mostly lower: German Dax is down -0.1%. France is up +0.1%. UK FTSE is unchanged. Spain is down -1.1%. Italy is -0.2%. Portugal is unchanged
  • 10 year yields in Europe are little changed. Germany 0.440%, down 1.2 bp. France 0.722%, unchanged. UK 1.325%,unchanged. Spain 1.562%, unchanged. Italy 2.053%, unchanged. Portugal 2.403% -1.9 bp

Natural disasters are taking its toll in the North American time zone. The 7.1 magnitude earthquake in Mexico has the death toll up near 220 (according to govt officials). The search and rescue efforts continues. Then there is Hurricane Maria which is battering Puerto Rico with 155 MPH winds. Thoughts and prayers to all.