North American Summary and Highlights 27 Mar
Overview - Middle East worries persisted with the main FX development being USD/JPY breaking above 160.
European and North American sessions
Middle East worries persisted ahead of the weekend though with no major developments, Trump’s Thursday postponement of an assault on Iranian power stations for a further 10 days doing little to calm nerves. The USD was generally supported with the most significant move being USD/JPY breaking above 160 getting as high as 160.40 before a modest correction. EUR/USD was more resilient, finding support at 1.15. EUR/GBP rose to .8675 from .8650 and EUR/CHF rose to near .92 from .9175. USD/CAD gains from 1.3850 stalled below 1.39 while AUD/USD slipped to .6870 from .69.
The Final March Michigan CSI was revised down to 53.3 from 55.5, with the 1-year inflation view revised up to 3.8% from 3.4% but the 5-10 year view unrevised at 3.2%. February UK retail sales at -0.4% fell less than expected after an upwardly revised 2.0% increase in January.