North American Summary and Highlights 24 February
Overview - The USD saw some gains in Europe, led by EUR/USD slippage, but stabilized in North America, apart from USD/CAD rising on Trump tariff comments.
North American session
Early equity weakness saw gains for the JPY and losses for the commodity currencies which reversed as equities recovered. USD/JPY was firm around 149.75 but USD/CAD saw a late spike above 1.4250 as Trump said tariffs against Canada and Mexico were going forward as scheduled in early March. AUD/USD was modestly weaker near .6350. EUR/USD saw early slippage to near 1.0450 before a modest recovery that did not get close to 1.05.
The only data release was a weaker than expected Dallas Feb manufacturing survey, falling to -8.3 in February from a positive 14.1 in January.
European morning session
The USD was generally firmer through the European morning, with the EUR losing the most ground, reversing most of the overnight gains seen after the German election result. EUR/USD dropped 30 pips to 1.0480, while USD/JPY gained around 20 pips to 149.60, and most other pairs saw similar losses against the USD of around 0.1-0.2%.
The EUR wasn’t helped by a weaker than expected German IFO survey which showed only a marginal rise in February in the business climate index, and a drop in the current conditions index. Otherwise there was little news, with the final Eurozone January CPI data unrevised at 2.7% y/y.