North American Summary and Highlights 3 December
Overview - The USD ended little changed, but saw some movement on South Korean political drama, strong US data and somewhat dovish Fed talk.
North American session
The USD ended not much changed after a choppy session. Early on the imposition of martial law in South Korea led to USD/JPY dropping to a low of 148.65 as UST yields slipped, but the USD then received support from stronger than expected US job openings data, up by 372k in October after a 498k September decline. This saw EUR/USD falling below 1.05 and USD/CAD up to 1.4075.
The USD saw some losses in mid-session, with comments from Fed speakers Daly and Kugler being moderately dovish, EUR/USD reaching a high of 1.0535 and GBP/USD touching 1.27. Late in the session South Korea announced that martial law would be lifted, after a vote against it in parliament, and USD/JPY recovered to near 149.50. EUR/USD and GBP/USD moved off their highs, but USD/CAD remained firmer, as was AUD/CAD.
European morning session
A quiet European morning saw the USD fall back a little against the riskier currencies, with EUR/USD gaining 30 pips to 1.0520 and AUD/USD gaining 20 pips to 0.6490. USD/JPY initially dipped a little but finished the session little changed near 150. GBP gained against the USD but lagged the EUR, with EUR/GBP gaining 10 pips to 0.83. The NOK was the morning’s best performer, with EUR/NOK dropping 4 figures to 11.62 and NOK/SEK gaining 0.4% to 0.9940.
The only data of note was Swiss CPI which came in a little below expectations at 0.7% y/y. EUR/CHF was steady near 0.9315.