Forex news for US trading on Nov 16:

  • November 2015 Empire State manufacturing -10.74 vs -6.20 exp
  • October 2015 Canadian existing home sales +1.8% vs -2.1% prior
  • Canada Sept manufacturing sales -1.5% vs +0.2% expected
  • CFTC Commitment of Traders report: EURUSD shorts increase in the current week
  • ECB's Nowotny frets about Japanification of Eurozone
  • ECB is not blind to possible side effects of monetary policy says Coeure
  • China's Xi says the world needs to urgently find new sources of economic growth
  • ECB QE count: PSP total €419.8bn vs €406.6bn prior
  • S&P 500 up 30 points to 2053
  • Gold down $1 to $1083
  • WTI crude up $1.30 to $$42.04
  • US 10-year yield flat at 2.26%
  • USD leads, EUR lags

The euro matched the six-month low of 1.0675 that was set last week. At the start of US trading, EUR/USD was at 1.0735, down narrowly on the session. From the it was a steady slide lower to 1.07 first and then it bounced to 1.0725 before a slide to 1.0675.

EUR/GBP selling was part of the reason for euro weakness but the pound was also caught in the dollar crosshairs. Cable started sharply lower down to 1.5180 from 1.5220 early in Europe but it completely rebounded.

USD/JPY was down in Asia but bottomed shortly after the open and ended up finishing with a solid reversal. It finished 100 pips from the lows at 123.25 as it rode on a wave of risk appetite alongside the rip higher in stocks.

Oil was a tough trade today. It started higher on geopolitical fears from the Paris attacks but heavy selling at the US open knocked it from $41.90 down to $40.05. The big figure held and then a reversal hit and crude jumped to $42.20.

USD/CAD was a microcosm of the oil trade but lately the magnitude of the CAD moves in relation to oil has been small. For instance, the range was 1.3300-1.3370, which isn't what you'd expect from a +5% swing in oil.