North American Summary and Highlights 24 June
Overview - It was a generally quiet day apart from a brief sharp decline in USD/JPY that was subsequently reversed. Otherwise the USD lost a little ground.
North American session
The USD was generally softer in a quiet North American session, GBP/USD rising to near 1.27 and EUR/USD getting close to 1.0750 before fading. USD/JPY was however slightly firmer, at 159.65. The commodity currencies also advanced versus the USD.
There as not much news. June’s Dallas Fed manufacturing index rose to -15.1 from -19.4, near expectations. Comments from Fed’s Goolsbee and Daly were fairly cautious but not hawkish. Bank of Canada Governor Macklem reiterated that it was reasonable to expect further rate cuts.
European morning session
The EUR extended gains seen in late Asia with EUR/USD reaching a high of 1.0729 after opening near 1.0700. USD/JPY edged a little lower from 159.70 before seeing a sharp slide in the late morning to a low of 158.82 that was quickly corrected back above 159.50. The slide doesn’t look to have been due to any official action, but rather due to squaring of some nervous short JPY positions. The EUR was generally firmer, with EUR/CHF gaining around 20 pips to 0.9580, and EUR/GBP gaining 10 pips to 0.8470, although GBP/USD was also dragged higher.
The main news was the June IFO survey, which came in a little on the soft side of the published consensus, with the business climate index down to 88.6 from 89.3 and both the expectations and current conditions index falling. However, EUR/USD continued to rise, perhaps because the decline was smaller than that seen in the PMI data last week, although the IFO index had lagged behind the PMI in May.