North American Summary and Highlights 4 February
Overview - The USD slipped on reduced trade tensions and softer US job openings data.
North American session
The USD weakened in North America, due to reduced trade worries and assisted by a steeper than expected 516k fall in US December job openings, though this did not fully reverse the gains of the preceding two months.
USD/CAD extended losses to near 1.43. USD/JPY fell by over a big figure to 154.30. EUR/USD saw relatively moderate advances to 1.0380 with GBP/USD and USD/CHF seeing similar moves. AUD/CAD stabilized seeing AUD/USD moving above .6250.
European morning session
The CAD extended the recovery seen overnight in the European morning, with USD/CAD dropping a further half a figure to 1.4420. EUR/USD also gained 40 pips to 1.0340, but remains slightly below Friday’s close. Other pairs were all essentially back to Friday’s closing levels with the tariff threats to Mexico and Canada now seen as unlikely to be carried out, while the risk of tariffs on the EU remains.
There wasn’t much news in the European morning. The Riksbank monetary policy minutes were interpreted as slightly on the hawkish side, suggesting the Riksbank easing cycle may be coming to an end, and EUR/SEK fell back 5 figures to 11.41 through the morning as front end Swedish yields edged higher.