Commodities bounce back strongly as the US Dollar eases
- Spain retail sales y/y 3.3% vs. 4.6%
- US Goods trade balance -60.5 billion vs. -60.9 billion
Later
- US S&P/CS HPI
- US CB Consumer confidence
The markets opened today with trading volumes picking up modestly. The Asian trading session was however mostly quiet but the commodity risk currencies were seen making some gains after declining modestly yesterday. AUDUSD is up 0.36% at the time of writing with the Aussie posting a steady uptrend. Prices however still remain range bound within yesterday’s high as AUDUSD attempts to break higher, currently trading at 0.727. The NZDUSD was also stronger today, up 0.32% for the day. Prices posted an intraday high briefly above 0.688 before easing back but the strong momentum is likely to see the Kiwi continue to push higher. The USDJPY on the other hand remains choppy. Prices were trading flat for the most part of today before picking up some upward momentum. However, USDJPY remains flat, with modest losses of -0.03% for the day, trading at 120.38 and remains within yesterday’s range.
The European trading session was quiet with no major economic releases. EURUSD continued to attempt to break above 1.098 but pulled back lower, currently down -0.12% for the day, trading at 1.095 at the time of writing. The strong resistance at 1.0988 – 1.098 marks a second day’s attempt to break above the resistance level. Support comes in at 1.094, following which a decline to 1.09 is possible. The GBPUSD on the other hand was weaker today, falling -0.48%. The British Pound was seen trading weaker across the board. GBPUSD touched down to a one month low, trading briefly at 1.479 at the time of writing as prices posted a steady decline after touching an intraday high near 1.49.
The Swiss Franc was weaker with USDCHF attempting to push higher after trading flat yesterday. USDCHF is up 0.19% for the day with prices trading near 0.99 at the time of writing, after prices attempted to post an intraday low near 0.986.
The NY trading session saw the release of the US goods trade balance which came out modestly better at -60.5 billion against expectations of -60.9 billion. The US Dollar did not react much to the news.
On the commodity front, US WTI Crude Oil prices are seeing a strong day, rising 1.75% after declining strongly to $36.65 yesterday. Prices bounced off this level strongly since the early trading session and are currently trading near the day’s high of $37.26 a barrel. Gold prices are also trading stronger today, up 0.40% trading at $1073 a barrel. Prices however remain range bound within yesterday’s high and low after Gold attempted to post an intraday high to 1074 before easing back.
The remainder of the evening will be marked with the US House Price index and the CB Consumer confidence data, which could see some volatility in the markets.
