North American Summary and Highlights 20 Feb

North American session

The USD edged a little lower in the North American session, though came off its lows in the afternoon, in generally quiet conditions. EUR/USD peaked at 1.0839 but remained above 1.08 while USD/JPY bottomed at 149.69 before recovering to 150. 

Canadian CPI was the only significant data, and came in a long way below expectations in all measures. So while the USD was generally lower, USD/CAD rose around 40 pips to 1.3520. 

European morning session

The USD was generally weaker through the European morning session. EUR/USD gained around 35 pips to trade above 1.08, and we saw similar gains in the other risky currencies. The JPY and CHF also gained against the USD, but less substantially, with EUR/CHF and EUR/JPY up around 0.2%. 

EUR/GBP also gained around 10 pips through the morning, although it was little affected by the BoE testimony to the Treasury Select Committee.  Governor Bailey struck a positive tone in saying he saw signs of an economic upturn, and deputy governor Broadbent said interest rate cuts during 2024 were possible but the timing was dependent on an unclear outlook for inflation. 

There was no market moving data, but the Swiss trade surplus for January and the Eurozone current account surplus for December were both larger than expected.