Forex news for North American trade on January 15, 2018:
- Canada December existing home sales +4.5% m/m vs +3.9% prior
- BOE's Tenreyro: "A couple more" BOE hikes over next three years likely
- Tenreyro: Faster UK wage growth alone would not necessarily point to rate hike
- Bank of France has put some FX reserves in yuan
- SPD's Schulz cites 'successful' exploratory talks with Merkel
- ECB's Hanssonwith some hawkish comments
- Bitcoin regulation should be global, Bundesbank director says
- Canadian January jobs will show at least 15,000 workers laid off as Sears closes the doors
- It's the third anniversary of the collapse of the EUR/CHF floor
Markets:
- NZD leads, USD lags
- Gold up $2 to $1340
- WTI crude up 51-cents to $64.81
US markets were closed for a holiday but that didn't stop everyone else from selling dollars.
The big break was in USD/JPY as it cracked below the November low and down 60 pips on the day to 110.48. The low so far is 110.33.
EUR/USD continues to hit new highs as it touched 1.2297 before retreating to 1.2273. Offers at the figure held on a few occasions throughout the day. Hansson prompted another run at the highs but it wasn't enough to spark a break.
Cable rose above 1.38 for the first time since Brexit and hit 1.3820 as the optimism continues. Tenreyo's comments were dovish but were ignored.
The commodity currencies all hit marginal new highs against the US dollar in North American trades but follow-through was lacking, especially after London went home for the day.