Forex news for North American trading on November 23, 2017:
- Canada Sept retail sales +0.1% vs +1.0% expected
- South Africa leaves rates at 6.75%, as expected
- South African central bank sees 2018 GDP at 1.2%, 2019 at 1.5%
- SNB's Jordan: Crypto currencies are more investments than currencies at present
- Jordan: Policy still aimed at weakening franc despite recent dip
- Mexican central bank sees fresh worries on inflation
- ECB's Villeroy: Eurozone recovery robust and broad-based
- Villeroy: Me becoming ECB President is not a topic for discussion
- Belgian November business confidence +1.6 vs +0.5 prior
Markets:
- EUR leads, CAD lags
- Toronto TSX down 3 points to 16,070
US Thanksgiving is usually one of the quietest days of the year in the forex market and it earned the reputation today. Markets were generally flat.
The exception was USD/CAD, which rose 40 pips on soft retail sales numbers. The weak reading extends a string of soft Q3 numbers ahead of next week's GDP data. The pair rose to a session high of 1.2725 immediately after the data but sellers capped it there and it drifted to 1.2704 before finishing at 1.2716.
The euro benefitted from strong PMIs earlier in the day and climbed 30 pips to 1.1856 and is poised to finish near the best levels of the day. A close here would be the best in a month.
Otherwise, pairs are closing within 20 pips of today's starting levels. Markets may be a bit more lively on Friday with some US traders checking in.
