North American Summary and Highlights 1 Mar
Overview - The USD slipped after weaker than expected US data, Fed talk possibly contributing too.
North American session
The USD fell back through the North American session after weaker than expected manufacturing ISM University of Michigan consumer sentiment and construction spending data. Dovish comments from Fed’s Goolsbee and remarks from Fed’s Waller and Logan considering slowing of the balance sheet rundown may also have fuelled the move, though Fed’s Bostic was later hawkish with no significant impact.
EUR/USD recovered from 1.08 to 1.0840 and GBP/USD advanced from 1.26 to 1.2660. USD/JPY dropped from 150.65 to 150.15. AUD/USD advanced from .6490 to .6530 and USD/CAD slipped from 1.36 to 1.3560.
European morning session
The USD showed some early gains in the European morning, but finished the session little changed. EUR/USD briefly dipped below 1.08 and USD/JPY hit a high of 150.68 before both returned to opening levels near 1.0820 and 150.35 respectively. EUR/CHF reached a high of 0.9595, continuing its overnight gains, but slipped back to 0.9575 by the end of the morning.
Newswise the Eurozone CPI data had been well trailed by the national CPI numbers on Thursday, and came in slightly above the surveyed consensus at 0.6% m/m, 2.6% y/y, with the core a little further above the consensus at 3.1% y/y. However, the real consensus was likely close to the actual numbers as the French CPI on Thursday had been slightly above expectations.
Otherwise, the manufacturing PMIs for the Eurozone and the UK were both revised a little higher, but remained at low levels and didn’t provide any support for the currencies.