The buck had a mixed session in NY as poor US economic data set the tone early and a US stock market rout late in the day saw the USD come back smartly. The ADP employment report registered a -157K decline in October and this does not bode well for NFP this Friday despite the shoddy track record. This coupled with USD selling into the 1100ET fix saw the buck on the matt all morning.
Into the afternoon, however, risk trades were pared and US stocks sank to fresh lows and an eventual close down -5.25%. EUR/USD, which had traded as high as 1.3115/20 in the session crept all the way back down to a close near the 1.2950/60 zone. GBP/USD ran up to 1.6190/95 and was later decimated into the 1.5910/00 area. JPY crosses also ended the session lower as USD/JPY fell -105 pips to 97.90/95 while EUR/JPY slipped about -90 pips into the 126.80/90 zone.
USD/CAD saw a nice 175 pips reversal in NY as better than expected weekly gasoline inventories nudged oil prices back towards the $65/bbl mark. Loonie was sitting near 1.1690/95 at the close after making a bottom into the 1.1480 area. Speaking of commodity currencies, AUD is the focus in the Asia session as we get Australian October employment data. Better than expected results should see AUD/USD towards the 0.6860 55hr SMA.
Upcoming Economic Data Releases (Asia Session) Prior Estimate
- 11/5/2008 23:50 GMT JN BoJ Monetary Policy Meeting Minutes for October 5-Nov
- 11/6/2008 0:01 GMT UK NIESR GDP Estimate OCT -0.20% - -
- 11/6/2008 0:30 GMT AU Employment Change OCT 2.2K -10.0K
- 11/6/2008 0:30 GMT AU Unemployment Rate OCT 4.30% 4.40%
- 11/6/2008 0:30 GMT AU Participation Rate OCT 65.10% 65.10%
- 11/6/2008 5:00 GMT JN Leading Index CI SEP P 89 89.2
- 11/6/2008 5:00 GMT JN Coincident Index CI SEP P 100.6 100.8
