North American Summary and Highlights 23 Jan
Overview - The USD fell across the board with USD/JPY falling particularly sharply.
North American session
The USD moved lower throughout the session. Through most of the morning USD/JPY was fairly stable a little above 158, but then tuned sharply lower, spurred by talk of a rate check, plunging below 156 in the afternoon. EUR/USD gains paused near 1.18 but once the level was broken bounced to 1.1825, GBP/USD rose to 1.3635 as EUR/GBP marginally extended European losses. EUR/CHF, stable in Europe, fell to .9240 from .9280. USD/CAD fell to 1.37 while AUD/USD gains came close to .69. Moves in equities and USTs were modest but oil saw significant gains.
US data had little impact with January S and P PMIs almost unchanged from December. January’s Michigan CSI was revised up to 56.4 from 54.0, with inflation expectations revised slightly lower.
European morning session
USD/JPY, having risen above 159, fell sharply below 157.50 shortly after BoJ’s Ueda finished his press conference. Finance Minister Katayama declined to comment on whether intervention had occurred.
The riskier currencies advanced, with GBP/USD rising to 1.3530 from 1,3490, AUD/USD rising to ,6860 from .6840 and USD/CAD falling to 1.3760 from 1.3790. EUR/USD was fairly stable near 1.1740. EUR/GBP fell to .8680 from .87. UK December retail sales with a 0.4% increase and January’s services PMI at 54.3 were both stronger than expected, particularly the latter.