North American Summary and Highlights 10 September
Overview - The ECB and US PPI saw no major surprises, but the USD made some gains as did oil.
North American session
The day’s main events did not provide any major shocks. The ECB tightened by 25bps as expected but with language on a meeting by meeting approach and being well positioned suggesting no urgency to move again. August US PPI at 0.4% overall, 0.2% ex food and energy was close to expectations while initial and continued claims were both almost unchanged. Oil and UST yields were firmer, keeping pressure on equities.
The USD did get some support, particularly from the PPI, which was firm enough to make a case for September tightening, though CPI will be more significant. EUR/USD fell to 1.16 before a modest correction. EUR/GBP saw modest gains but could not reach 0.86, as did EUR/CHF. USD/JPY saw a brief move above 154.50 before correcting, though a move back below 154.00 also proved brief. AUD/USD broke below 0.72 to reach 0.7160. USD/CAD made only modest gains as AUD/CAD slipped to .99 from .9950.
European session
Quiet morning with FX mainly flat ahead of the ECB and the US PPI data. Energy complex nonetheless remains pressured upwards, with Brent up 1% to $102, and with diesel for instance up 4% and pushing new highs (only the brief May22 spike highs above).
NOK actually seeing a little bit of current profit-taking on the day, as it runs into the May EUR/NOK and USD/NOK lows and a little shy of the bigger NOK/SEK highs, after the relentless energy fueled run from the profit-taking NOK pullback into June.