North American Summary and Highlights 31 March

North American session

Equities were under pressure early but subsequently recovered and this saw USD/JPY rising above 150 from 149 before a modest late correction. AUD/USD reversed early losses to end near 0.6250 but USD/CAD, while finding resistance near 1.44, saw little reversal of early gains. EUR/USD was fairly stable, recovering from a dip below 1.08, but EUR/GBP and EUR/CHF were firmer near .8370 and .9570 respectively. 

There was not much news though the Dallas Fed manufacturing survey was weak at -16.3 from -8.3. Comments from Fed’s Barkin and Williams took a cautious approach to policy given uncertainty.  

European morning session 

The USD made gains against the riskier currencies through the European morning. AUD/USD dropped 30 pips to 0.6250, USD/CAD gained 30 pips to 1.4350, and GBP/USD lost 30 pips to 1.2925. EUR/USD was only modestly softer at 1.0820, and USD/JPY was little changed just above 149. The EUR moved slightly higher against the CHF and scandis. The USD and JPY gains reflected a generally weak performance from equities, which extended the losses seen in the last few sessions. 

Datawise, German March state CPI data was mixed but generally close to consensus. Italian CPI was significantly stronger than expected at 0.4% m/m, offsetting the weaker French and Spanish data last week. German retail sales was a little stronger than expected on the month in February. But none of the data had any significant impact.