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America’s Roundup: Dollar eases from three-year highs, Wall Street falls, Gold rises, Oil falls for fourth week; U.S. crude posts steepest weekly loss since 1991-March 21st,2020

Market Roundup

• Canada Core Retail Sales (MoM)   -0.1% , 0.2% forecast,0.7% previous     

• Canada Jan Retail Sales (MoM) 0.4%,0.3% forecast, 0.2% previous  
 
• Russian Jan Real Wage Growth (YoY) 6.5%,4.5% forecast, 6.9% previous  
 
• Russian Feb Retail Sales (YoY) 4.7%,2.8% forecast, 2.7% previous 
   
• US Feb Unemployment Rate 4.6%,4.7% forecast, 4.7%  previous  
 
• US Feb Existing Home Sales 5.77M, 5.50M forecast, 5.42M previous
    
• US Feb Existing Home Sales (MoM) 6.5%,0.7%    forecast, -2.0% previous    

Looking Ahead - Economic Data (GMT) 
   
• No data ahead

Looking Ahead - Events, Other Releases (GMT)    

• No significant events  

Currency Summaries

EUR/USD: The euro recovered some ground against dollar on Friday as euro recovered from some of their recent huge losses as central banks and governments pledged masses of cash to reduce the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The euro rose 0.06% to $1.0697 but was not far off three-year lows, having shed more than 3% for the week so far  the steepest decline since mid-2015.Immediate resistance can be seen at 1.0729 (23.6% fib), an upside break can trigger rise towards 1.0777 (38.2% fib).On the downside, immediate support is seen at 1.0649(Daily low), a break below could take the pair towards 1.9600 (Psychological level).

GBP/USD: Sterling rebounded versus the U.S. dollar, climbing off more than three-decade lows against the greenback as central banks moved to ease a scramble for dollars. Six central banks including the BoE announced coordinated action to enhance liquidity in U.S. dollars on Friday by holding more frequent currency swap operations, further steadying nerves in money markets. The pound whipsawed from a fresh low of $1.1413 versus the dollar in Asian trading hours overnight. It climbed to just shy of $1.20 on the day before losing momentum and was last up 2.3% at just above $1.17. Immediate resistance can be seen at 1.1781(61.8% fib), an upside break can trigger rise towards 1.1875 (Daily high).On the downside, immediate support is seen at 1.1675 (50% fib ), a break below could take the pair towards 1.1589 (38.2% fib).

USD/CAD: The Canadian dollar strengthened by the most in four years against its U.S. counterpart on Friday as risk aversion eased and oil held onto much of the previous day's rally, but the loonie was set to fall by more than 3% for the week. U.S. crude oil futures were down 2.85% at $24.50 a barrel. Oil rose 24% on Thursday, helped by hopes that the United States would intervene in the price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia. At (1302 GMT), the Canadian dollar was trading 1.7% higher at 1.4268 to the greenback, its biggest advance since March 2016. The currency, which on Thursday hit a four-year low at 1.4669, traded in a range of 1.4150 to 1.4538.Immediate resistance can be seen at 1.4539 (Daily high), an upside break can trigger rise towards 1.4643 (March 21st high).On the downside, immediate support is seen at 1.4423 (23.6 %fib ), a break below could take the pair towards 1.4289 (38.2% fib)

USD/JPY: The dollar edged lower against the Japanese yen on Friday as six major central banks announced a coordinated action to enhance liquidity in the market. On Friday six major central banks announced coordinated action to enhance liquidity in the greenback by increasing the frequency of their currency swap operations to occur daily. The U.S. dollar rose to 1.03, the highest since January 2017, against a basket of currencies through a week when investors have liquidated everything from stocks to bonds to gold and commodities. It was last 102.78, down 0.32% on the day. Strong resistance can be seen at 111.27 (23.6% fib), an upside break can trigger rise towards 112.00 (Psychological level).On the downside, immediate support is seen at 110.59 (38.2% fib), a break below could take the pair towards 110.06 (50% fib). 

Equities Recap

European shares ended higher for a second straight day on Friday but pared most of the session’s gains as fears over the economic shock from the coronavirus quashed initial optimism.

The UK's benchmark FTSE 100 closed up by 0.76 percent, Germany's Dax ended up  by 3.70 percent, and France’s CAC finished the up by 5.01 percent.

Wall Street wrapped up its worst week since October 2008, with the S&P 500 sliding more than 4% on Friday as New York and California imposed tough restrictions to keep people at home to try to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

Dow Jones closed down at 4.55 percent, S&P 500 ended down 4.34 percent, Nasdaq finished the day down by 3.79 percent.

Treasury Recap

U.S. Treasury yields eased on Friday but then steadied after a week of wild swings, as emergency measures to stabilize financial markets and the economy from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic took hold.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year note was down 11.5 basis points to 1.0143%, but kept close to that level for several hours, encouraging investors after days of sharp volatility.

Commodities Recap

U.S. crude tumbled 10.7% on Friday and posted its biggest weekly decline since the 1991 Gulf War as the coronavirus epidemic dried up global demand and as officials in Washington said an envoy would head to Saudi Arabia to deal with fallout of a Saudi-Russia oil price war.

Brent crude futures fell $1.49, or 5.2%, to settle at $26.98 a barrel. U.S. crude futures for April fell $2.69, or 10.7%, to settle at $22.53 a barrel. The front-month contract expires on Friday. The more active U.S. crude contract for May  settled down $3.28, or 12.7%, at $22.63.    

Gold rebounded on Friday, rising as much as 3.1%, as a wave of fiscal and monetary stimulus by global central banks to counter the economic impact from coronavirus spread halted investors lure for cash.

Spot gold was up 0.7% at $1,480.53 per ounce at 01:34 a.m. EDT (1734 GMT). However, bullion has lost more than 3% so far this week.U.S. gold futures settled 0.4% higher to $1,484.6.    

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