Forex news for US trading on Feb 23, 2016:

  • US Feb consumer confidence 92.2 vs 97.2 expected
  • January 2016 US existing home sales 5.47m vs 5.32m exp
  • Oman oil minister: OPEC was created to do what is needed today: reduce output
  • Fed's George: Strong dollar a headwind for manufacturing
  • More from Fed's George: I'm not worried about deflation
  • Regional Fed directors saw few wage pressures in discount meeting minutes
  • Fed's Kaplan: May need more patience to reach inflation target
  • Fed's Kashkari expects moderate US growth this year
  • December 2015 US Case/Shiller 20 city HPI 0.8% vs 0.9% exp m/m SA
  • Philly Fed Feb non-manufacturing index drops to 3.6 from 5.1
  • CHF demand notable as Jordan says "unconventional measures can not be deployed endlessly"
  • North Korea warns of pre-emptive strike against South Korea and the US - Livesquawk
  • SNB's Jordan says there's no risk that Switzerland will do away with cash

Oil

  • Saudi oil minister: Cutting production will not happen
  • Saudi's Naimi has no concerns about demand and welcomes any new supply
    More from Naimi: We are spending money to stay at max capacity of 12.5 mbpd
  • Saudi and Nigerian leaders commit to efforts to stabilise oil prices - Rtrs
  • Oil falls after Iran makes it clear it won't freeze production
  • Iran oil minister adds that output freeze plan is 'laughable'

Markets:

  • S&P 500 down 22 points to 1923
  • Gold up $15 to $1224
  • US 10-year yields down 1 bps to 1.74%
  • WTI crude oil down $1.49 to $31.89
  • CHF and JPY lead, GBP and NZD lag

Most of the directional moves in the market came before New York arrived, especially yen and CHF strength. In US trading it was all about oil and cable.

Iran had some harsh words directed at production freeze hopes and that started selling in crude. It accelerated after Naimi said, flat out, that the Saudis weren't going to cut and that OPEC would no longer be the swing producer. In turn, that put a bid under CAD up to 1.3824 from 1.3721. It faded about 50 pips from the highs later.

Cable was hurt by Brexit fears. It sagged 100 pips after the London fix and finishes at the lows. Comments from Haldane focused on slow growth but weren't particularly notable in the selling. Last at 1.4018, the worst in nearly 9 years.

EUR/USD broke 1.1000 but there was no significant follow-through in three separate breaks. It then rebounded up to 1.1038 on fixing demand then drifted back to 1.1017.

AUD/USD slipped to a session low near 0.7200 late as risk trades deteriorated. It started US trading around 0.7250 in what looks to the start of a minor retracement after two days of strong gains.