Forex news for US trading on October 18, 2017:
- Beige Book: Economy expanded at modest-to-moderate pace
- US Sept housing starts 1127K vs 1175K expected
- UK's May says no deal on Brexit preferable to a bad deal
- Fed's Dudley: Must ensure benefits of growth accrue to more people
- Fed on path for three hikes in 2017 - Dudley
- Fed's Williams: I don't see any signs inflation process has fundamentally changed
- US Republican Senator Cornyn sees enough support for budget measure
- The stock market is the scorecard for the Fed and the US government
- Three signs China could hit pause on the growth-machine next year
- US EIA weekly oil inventories -5731K vs -3250K expected
- Atlanta Fed GDPNow forecast still at 2.7%
- Fed's Kaplan: Says he closely watches 10-year yield and shape of yield curve
- OPEC leaning toward 9-month supply cut extension - report
- Canada August manufacturing sales 1.6% vs. -0.3% estimate
- Catalan leader says he would declare independence if Spain suspends autonomy - report
- White House: Federal Reserve chair decision due in 'coming days '
Markets:
- Gold down $4 to $1281
- WTI crude up 16-cents to $52.04
- S&P 500 up 2 points to 2561
- US 10-year yields up 4 bps to 2.34%
- CAD leads, JPY lags
It was tough to match the headlines to the price action on Wednesday. The yen was beaten up in Europe early as USD/JPY climbed to 113.00 from 112.25. Then it was the dollar's turn as it sagged against the yen but far more against everything else.
In turn, CAD/JPY and EUR/JPY were big winners on the day, both clocking more than 100 pips in gains.
In part that was driven by an improvement in risk appetite as stocks and yields climbed. The Japanese election is Sunday and Abe looks comfortable so that may mean more easy policy.
Technically, EUR/USD may trace out an outside day as it fell to 1.1730 and then finished close to 1.1800. The selling was early in Europe but it was a steady climb higher.
So far markets are happy with the headlines out of China and the Party Congress, but we will be paying a close eye to what comes next and to the upcoming Aussie jobs report.
