North American Summary and Highlights 9 Apr
Overview - Cautious optimism that progress towards peace in Lebanon could be made, thus easing a key obstacle to peace in the Gulf, saw the USD lose some ground.
North American session
Focus was on the Middle East with some optimism emerging from the news Israel was willing to talk with the Lebanese government and optimistic comments from Trump about prospects for peace and the likelihood of Israel scaling back its actions in Lebanon. This saw the USD slipping but with Israel signaling that it would continue to fight Hezbollah in Lebanon the USD moved off its lows. USD/JPY was little changed near 159 and EUR/USD slightly firmer near 1.17, with EUR/JPY above 186. EUR/GBP was little changed but EUR/CHF advanced to near .9250 from .9230. AUD/USD advanced but failed to reach .71 while USD/CAD losses failed to reach 1.38. AUD/CAD peaked at .98.
US data had little impact but was on balance on the soft side of expectations, most notably a 0.1 decline in February personal income, well below a 0.5% rise in spending that was slightly short of consensus. 0.4% gains in PCE prices, both overall and core, were firm but in line with expectations. Q4 GDP was revised down to 0.5% from 0.7%. Initial claims corrected higher to 219k from 203k but continued claims fell to 1.794m from 1.832m, reaching their lowest since May 2024.
European morning session
The USD was marginally softer in Europe, though USD/JPY did edge higher while EUR/USD was also making modest gains, seeing EUR/JPY advance to near 186 from 185.20. EUR/GBP, AUD/USD and USD/CAD were fairly stable.