North American Summary and Highlights 17 July
Overview - Equities were under some pressure but the USD was little changed.
North American session
The USD saw some early slippage but ended little changed. Focus was more on pressured equities than data. June housing starts exceeded expectations on a bounce in multiples but single starts and permits saw modest declines. June industrial production was subdued but Q2 firm. July’s Michigan CSI firmed but may be dated given revived Middle East hostilities.
USD/JPY remained tight near 162.50 as did EUR/USD near 1.1440. EUR/GBP stabilized near .85 and EUR/CHF found a base near .9230. AUD/USD was stable near .6980. A modest dip in USD/CAD saw a late correction after Trump said Canada would have to pay tariffs because of recent pollution caused by Canadian forest fires.
European session
Risk-off tone coming from techs as chip stocks run into corrective selling and rotation, the Nikkei off almost 6% and the Nasdaq off around 1.9%.
FX more contained, though the slight extension of the weakness into the European morning has lent higher beta (AUD, SEK...) a little lower. VIX has nudged up though is still sub 20. USD/JPY makes do with staying incredibly tight and frozen into the Japan holiday rather than repeating the pre-event selloff.