North American Summary and Highlights 7 January

European and North American sessions

The USD moved higher in Europe, EUR/USD edging marginally below 1.04. Eurozone CPI was in line with expectations rising to 2.4% yr/yr from 2.2% with the core stable at 2.7%.

The main event of the day was a bounce in November US job openings, by 259k to 8.098m, the highest level since May, At the same time December’s ISM services index rose to 54.1 from 52.1. EUR/USD slipped to 1.0365 on the data extending to below 1.0350 while GBP/USD fell to 1.2480. EUR, GBP and AUD losses were sustained, AUD/USD falling to .6230, but a bounce in USD/JPY to a high of 158.42 was not, returning to near pre-data levels around 157.75 as equities slipped.

Trump threatened economic action against Denmark (over Greenland) and Canada which helped to sustain pressure on the EUR and undermined a CAD recovery after USD/CAD rose to 1.4366 on the US data. Canadian officials voiced their objections to Trump’s remarks.