North American Summary and Highlights 15 November
Overview - USD/JPY was weaker following comments by Japanese Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato in Asia, but USD losses elsewhere were corrected after a mostly solid set of US data.
North American session
October US retail sales were in line with expectations with a 0.4% rise, 0.1% ex autos, but with September revised higher. November’s Empire State manufacturing survey was strong at 31.2. October industrial production was as expected with a 0.3% decline, fully due to the Boeing strike and hurricanes.
On balance the data was healthy and EUR/USD fully reversed earlier gains, falling back to 1.0525. EUR/GBP was marginally firmer but EUR/CHF slipped to 0.935o from 0.9390. USD/JPY ignored the data and later resumed its slide, eventually finding a base at 154. AUD/USD slipped after the data to .6450 while USD/CAD advanced to near 1.41.
European morning session
The USD was generally weaker through the European morning, with USD/JPY leading the way. JPY gains were helped by comments from Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato in Asian time, who said Japanese authorities would take appropriate action against excessive currency moves. USD/JPY dropped nearly a big figure to 155.25, while EUR/USD gained around 20 pips to 1.0575. The CAD and AUD were only slightly higher, and USD/CHF was unchanged at 0.8880.
GBP was the worst performer through the session, with EUR/GBP gaining 20 pips to 0.8340 after hitting a high of 0.8350 following weaker than expected September and Q3 GDP data. September GDP fell 0.1% and Q3 GDP was revised to 0.1% from 0.2% as a result. GBP/USD fell to a low of 1.2650 before bouncing to be only marginally lower on the session.