Market Drivers – US Session – 16 February

What you need to know on Thursday, February 17:

The American dollar edged lower on Wednesday, despite the release of upbeat US data and uncertainty related to Russian and Ukrainian border tensions.

The US Federal Reserve released the Minutes of the latest FOMC meeting, which indicated that policymakers are willing to hike rates but did not mention a 50 bps move in March.

Economic Data

US Retail Sales were up 3.8% in January, much better than anticipated, while Industrial Production in the same month surged by 1.4% vs the 0.4% expected.

Other Developments

Regarding geopolitical tensions, the latest on the matter was the Estonian Foreign Intelligence Service chief reporting that Russia was moving some 10 battle groups towards the area near Ukraine, where more groups are already awaiting.

European indexes closed in the red with modest losses. Wall Street spent most of the day in the red but managed to recover post-FOMC Minutes now mixed around their opening levels.

Government bond yields remained up the upper end of their weekly range, with the yield on the US 10-year Treasury note hovering around 2.05%.

EUR/USD trades around 1.1390, while GBP/USD flirts with 1.3600 amid the broad dollar’s weakness. The AUD/USD pair is also up, trading around 0.7200, while USD/CAD lags, hovering around 1.2670. Weaker oil prices limit the CAD as the black gold retreated sharply from its daily high and trades around $92.50 a barrel.

Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani tweeted that, following weeks of intensive talks, the JCPOA participants, including the US and Iran are closer than ever to an agreement. However, he added that “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.”

Safe-haven currencies managed to advance against the greenback, with USD/CHF down to 0.9210 meanwhile, gold edged higher and trades at around $1870 a troy ounce.

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