Forex today: a small up for the dollar, healthcare vote just about gets over the line
Forex today was a small up for the DXY and a rally in US yields while stocks were printing fresh highs in a modest risk-on environment.
The main news towards the close was that Vice President and Senate President Mike Pence used his tiebreaker vote to go on with the motion to start the discussion on the health care bill, supporting the upside in the dollar, despite not being critical news amongst a session of second tier data.
US ten years were up +3% towards the close at 2.3247% and the DXY +0.11% at 94.07. The yen fell away towards the 112 handle and sterling struggles through higher territory on the 1.30 handle, closing down from the highs of 1.3084 to 1.3020's at the time of writing. The euro fell back from highs of 1.1712 to 1.1630 the low.
Despite a higher dollar, WTI rallied with next that Saudi Arabia is to cut exports and held onto territory close to session highs of 48.02. The Canadia dollar battled towards a break of the 1.25 handle again, eying session lows of 1.2480. The Aussie will be in the limelight in the Asian session, although was not performing well in the US, down from a high of 0.7970, closing at 0.7930 and off lows of 0.7902. The Kiwi was offered from 0.7451 to 0.7400.
Day ahead in Asia:
- 22:45 NZ Trade Balance Jun, 103.0m previous
- 22:45 NZ Trade Balance Y/Y Jun, -3.75b previous
- 01:30 AU CPI QQ Q2, 0.4% consensus, 0.5% previous
- 01:30 AU CPI YY Q2, 2.2% consensus, 2.1% previous
- 01:30 AU CPI Index Number Q2, 110.5 previous
- 03:05 RBA's Lowe
Key events from US session:
- US Dollar remains near session highs after healthcare vote
- US: Consumers remain upbeat - Wells Fargo
- US: Home prices continue steady appreciation - Wells Fargo
- US Stocks: Tuesday's Q2 earning results mostly above estimates