North American Summary and Highlights 17 Nov

North American session

Equities came under pressure meaning risk off trade, USD/JPY breaking to a new post-February high at 155.30      while AUD/USD slipped below .65. USD/CAD moved up to near 1.4060 from 1.4025. Most of the AUD and CAD losses came late in the session, though USD/CAD was marginally firmer after Canadian CPI fell to 2.2% yr/yr from 2.4%, not quite as soft as expected, but with softening in the BoC’s core rates, CPI-Median and CPI-Trim.  EUR/JPY tested 180 but failed to break, with EUR/USD marginally lower at 1.1590 from 1.16. 

The USD released delayed August construction spending data, which with a 0.2% rise was firmer than expected, particularly given upward revisions to June and July. Late in the session Fed’s Waller gave a clear call for a 25bps December easing, but got little FX response. Earlier comments from Fed’s Jefferson were cautious and balanced. 

European morning session 

Then USD was generally firmer through the European morning, gaining against almost all the major currencies, with GBP holding its own, and scandis making some gains. There wasn’t much news of note, with Swiss Q3 GDP the only data of significance. This showed a 0.5% q/q decline due to weakness in pharma and chemicals, likely related to US tariffs.  EUR/CHF was net slightly higher on the session just above 0.9220, but showed no reaction to the data.  

Otherwise, the USD gained around 0.1% against most of the majors. But GBP/USD held unchanged at 1.3155, and the scandis were both stronger on the session, with USD/SEK down 2 figures to 9.45 and USD/NOK a figure lower at 10.10.