Forex news for US trading on January 10, 2017:

  • JOLTS job openings for November 5.522M vs 5.500M estimate
  • US November wholesale sales +0.4% vs +0.5% m/m expected
  • November 2016 US wholesale inventories final 1.0% vs 0.9% exp m/m
  • Canada November building permits -0.1% vs -6.0% expected
  • Canada Dec housing starts 207.0K vs 190.0K expected
  • Atlanta Fed GDPNow at 2.9% for Q4
  • Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker to hang up his boots in October
  • Macron tipped to beat both Le Pen and Fillon if they meet in second round elections
  • Icelandic government gives parliament the green light on EU referendum
  • Larry Summers has some bizarre logic on the value of the dollar
  • Janus Capital's Gross says Trump's positive economic tweets need to be backed up by 3% GDP growth
  • US to charge three forex traders in fix-rigging investigation

Markets

  • Gold up $6 to $1187
  • WTI crude down $1.16 to $50.80
  • S&P 500 up 2 points to 2071
  • US 10-year yields up 1 bps
  • JPY leads, NZD lags

The lack of data and central bank speakers made for a day without volatility and all the majors are set to close within 30 pips of opening levels. But that doesn't mean there wasn't any volatility.

EUR/USD was strong in Asia but peaked before Europe arrived and slid steadily until about 9 am ET when bids appeared and then strong buyers showed up just as the US stock market opened in a 50-pip bounce from the lows. The JOLTS and inventories numbers had no effect and there was a chop and then a slump back to a fresh session low at 1.0551. Bids at 1.0550 were tested a few times but held and we close near the lows.

USD/JPY hit a session high of 116.34 just as New York arrived but it was a slide from there that turned into aggressive selling down to 115.26. The earlier Asian low held through and it bounced to 116.00 then consolidated near 115.75 to close out the day.

Cable, for once, was a bit quieter. It traded in a 40 pip range. Some buying into the London fix boosted it to 1.2190, which was the daily high. But it quickly slumped back to 1.2150 before finishing at 1.2175. It was a tiny win but the first one for GBP in a few days.

USD/CAD is facing fierce crosswinds from great economic data and an aggressive drop in oil prices. That continues to play largely to a standstill but there was a roundrip from 1.3250 down to 1.3192 and back as the themes do battle.

The Aussie continues to be the best performer this year. It finished up narrowly at 0.7371 after shaking off a drop to 0.7331 at the start of US trading. It's the Summer lull in Australia but we're closely watching 0.7390, which is a short-term double top.

Oil was the big story again today as it closed at the lows of the second day. There are worries about rising US production and generally high inventories. We will find out more from the API and EIA data in the day ahead.