North American Summary and Highlights 25 February
Overview - The USD was mostly weaker as worries built on US economic prospects, but USD/CAD rose on continued tariff concerns.
North American session
Growing worries about emerging weakness in the US economy were fuelled by a weaker February consumer confidence report, falling to 98.3 from 105.3, and this saw the USD mostly weaker, in a move that was underway even before the release. EUR/USD moved above 1.05 from 1.0475 while USD/JPY slipped as low as 148.57 from 149.75 before correcting to near 149. GBP/USD mirrored EUR/USD.
An exception to the weaker USD picture was a rise in USD/CAD to highs above 1.43 from 1.4250 as tariff worries persisted. AUD/USD had less direction, but moved off European lows.
European morning session
There was little net change in the USD through the European morning. USD/JPY did fall half a figure in early trading but recovered to be little changed near 149.75 by the end of the session. The only real move was in the AUD, with AUD/USD losing around 25 pips to 0.6325. Otherwise, EUR/CHF was slightly softer and EUR/NOK was slightly firmer, but EUR/USD and GBP/USD were unchanged.
There wasn’t much news of note, with the German Q4 GDP data unrevised at -0.2 q/q and no other data of significance. The UK energy regulator Ofgem said it was raising its price cap on UK household energy bills by 6.4% from April, which could push up UK inflation and limit BoE easing, but there was no GBP impact and UK yields were slightly lower on the session.