Forexlive Americas FX news wrap: US dollar stays strong as stocks and oil sink | Forexlive
Markets:
- Gold up $3 to $1771
- US 10-year yields down 7 bps to 3.52%
- WTI crude down $2.56 to $74.37 — lowest of the year
- S&P 500 down 58 points to 3940, or 1.4%
- USD leads, CAD and GBP lag
The trend today was for US dollar strength on the second day of heavy selling in equities. More talk about a top in stock markets has crept in and the correlate is a strengthening of the dollar.
It wasn’t straightforward though as heavy USD-selling hit into the London fix, particularly in cable. That boosted GBP/USD by more than a full cent in short order. However over the remainder of the day that was erased and more.
Other pairs followed the same pattern, albeit to a lesser extent. EUR/USD formed an intraday double top at 1.0525 before falling to 1.0460 late in the day and then skidding along the bottom.
In the aftermath of the RBA decision, AUD was sluggish. A bounce failed just ahead of 0.6750 and the pair sagged down to 0.6689.
USD/JPY peaked at 137.46 early in Europe but softened on falling Treasury yields to hit 136.00 before bouncing 100 pips on broad US dollar strength.
The loonie remains highly volatile alongside energy. Crude attempted to bounce through the early part of North American trading and again after the talk of a Russian oil price floor but couldn’t hold and fell to the lowest levels of the year. That boosted USD/CAD as high as 1.3675 and there will be more volatility to come with the Bank of Canada rate decision coming up on Wednesday.