North American Summary and Highlights 26 Mar

North American session

The USD saw modest gains across the board in North America with USD/JPY rising to 151.50 and EUR/USD falling to 1.0835. AUD/USD erased its outperforming European gains.

While February durable goods orders with a 1.4% rise were slightly stronger than expected the ex-transport gain of 0.5% was modest and the story was more of risk positive moves rather than a reaction to data. Later March consumer confidence came in a little softer than expected at 104.7, little changed from 104.8 in February though that number was revised down from 106.7.

European morning session

The USD edged a little lower through the European morning. EUR/USD gained around 10 pips to 1.0840, and USD/JPY fell a similar amount to 151.25. The AUD was a modest outperformer, rising 15 pips to 0.6558, while the CHF was little changed against the USD with USD/CHF just above 0.90, EUR/CHF continuing the rise seen since the start of the week, reaching a high of 0.9788.

There wasn’t a great deal of news, with the only data of note coming from Sweden. This was on the strong side of consensus, with PPI flat on the month and the economic tendency survey showing a rise to its highest since September 2022. EUR/SEK started the session on the firm side but finished slightly lower at 11.44.