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America's Roundup: Dollar rises vs yen after Fed minutes, Wall Street ends higher, Gold steadies, Oil settles 1 pct higher on hopes of market rebalance, trade deal-February 21st, 2019

Market Roundup

• Fed policymakers saw little risk from patient stance: minutes

• Fed minutes leave questions on balance sheet, patience

• Trump threatens tariffs on European cars if no EU trade deal

• Germany, France close to deal on new euro zone budget

• UK's May holds "constructive" Brexit talks with wary EU

• Three UK Conservatives quit party in protest at "disastrous Brexit"

• Days before summit, Trump raises prospect of easing N.Korea sanctions

• Moscow ready to cut time for nuclear strike on U.S. if necessary -Putin

• MSCI lets Argentina keep 'frontier' emerging market status after peso fall

• US 15 Feb, w/e MBA Mortgage Applications, 3.6%, -3.7% previous

• US 15 Feb, w/e Mortgage Market Index, 365.3, 364.8 forecast,, 352.6 previous

• US 15 Feb, w/e MBA Purchase Index, 232.7, 237.7 forecast,, 228.9 previous

• US 15 Feb, w/e Mortgage Refinance Index, 1,084.4, 1,052.4 forecast,, 1,019.2 previous

• US 15 Feb, w/e MBA 30-Yr Mortgage Rate, 4.66%, 4.65% previous

Looking Ahead - Economic Data (GMT)

• 20 Feb 22:00 Australia Feb Manufacturing PMI, 54.3 previous

• 20 Feb 22:00 Australia Feb Services PMI, 51.0

• 20 Feb 22:00 Australia Feb Composite PMI, 51.5 previous

• 21 Feb 00:30 Australia Jan Employment, 15.0k forecast,, 21.6k previous

• 21 Feb 00:30 Australia Jan Participation Rate, 65.6% forecast, 65.6% previous

• 21 Feb 00:30 Japan Feb Nikkei Mfg PMI Flash, 50.3 previous

Looking Ahead - Events, Other Releases (GMT)

• 01:00 San Francisco Fed’s Mary Daly participates in event, "Achieving Full Employment in the Modern Economy: Associates Meeting with Mary C. Daly" hosted by Stanford University

• 09:00 Germany’s Peter Altmaier and Russia’s Maxim Oreshkin will attend German commerce chambers' Russia conference in Berlin

• 09:00 ECB’s Peter Praet delivers Keynote speech at the International Conference on Real Estate Statistics organized by Eurostat in Luxembourg

• 13:30 ECB’s Peter Praet participates in panel discussion "Is the ECB finally returning to standard policies?" at Centre for European Policy Studies Ideas Lab in Brussels, Belgium

• 13:50 Atlanta Fed's Raphael Bostic to speak on the economic outlook and monetary policy before the Terry Third Thursday, in Atlanta

• 17:50 Bank of Canada’s Stephen Poloz delivers speech at Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal, Montreal, Quebec

Currency Summaries

EUR/USD: The euro slipped lower against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday, after the Federal Reserve, in the minutes of its latest policy meeting, said the U.S. economy and its labor market remained strong, prompting some expectations of at least one more interest rate hike this year.The euro was down 0.01 percent at $1.1343, erasing earlier gains. An index that tracks the dollar versus a basket of six major currencies was down 0.08 at 96.45. Immediate resistance can be seen at 1.1384 (38.2% retracement level), an upside break can trigger rise towards 1.1325 (23.6% retracement level).On the downside, immediate support is seen at 1.1277 (Fed 20th low), a break below could take the pair towards 1.1234 (Lower Bollinger Band).

GBP/USD: Sterling weakened against dollar on Wednesday after three lawmakers defected from Prime Minister Theresa May's ruling Conservative party in a move that could undermine her Brexit strategy. May has returned to Brussels to try to salvage her Brexit deal which was voted down by Britain's divided parliament last month. But the decision by three pro-EU lawmakers to quit their party over what they called the government's "disastrous handling of Brexit" cast fresh doubt over her ability to get any EU-UK deal approved, and that weighed on the pound.  Immediate resistance can be seen at 1.3171 (38.2% retracement level), an upside break can trigger rise towards 1.1314 (Higher Bollinger Band).On the downside, immediate support is seen at 1.3043 (38.2% retracement level), a break below could take the pair towards 1.2992 (50% retracement level).

USD/CAD: The Canadian dollar strengthened on Wednesday to its highest in two weeks against the greenback, posting the biggest rise among its peers, as global stocks were boosted by hopes of progress in trade talks between the United States and China. World stocks notched a four-month high on U.S.-China trade talks optimism, with a dovish backdrop at major central banks also helping push markets back into the black. At (2050 GMT), the Canadian dollar was trading 0.2 percent higher at 1.3170 to the greenback, the biggest gain of G10 currencies. Immediate resistance can be seen at 1.3172 (38.2% retracement level), an upside break can trigger rise towards 1.3200 (Psychological level).On the downside, immediate support is seen at 1.3131 (23.6% retracement level), a break below could take the pair towards 1.3080 (Lower Bollinger Band).

USD/JPY: The dollar gained against the yen on Wednesday, after the Federal Reserve, in the minutes of its latest policy meeting, said the U.S. economy and its labor market remained strong, prompting some expectations of at least one more interest rate hike this year. The U.S. central bank surprised markets last month by suspending a three-year campaign to raise rates, saying it would be patient about making any adjustments to its target range for short-term interest rates, now at between 2.25 percent and 2.5 percent.The dollar was 0.19 higher versus the Japanese yen at 110.82. Strong resistance can be seen at 110.88 (38.2% retracement level), an upside break can trigger rise towards 111.11(Feb 14th high).On the downside, immediate support is seen at 110.42 (50% retracement level), a break below could take the pair towards 109.94 (61.8% retracement level). 

Equities Recap

Trade talks between the world's two biggest economies helped European shares rise on Wednesday, while the threat of a blocked merger sank shares in British supermarket Sainsbury's and a money laundering scandal hit Swedbank.

The UK's benchmark FTSE 100 closed up by 0.7 percent, FTSEurofirst 300 ended the day up by 0.66 percent, Germany's Dax ended up by 0.9 percent, and France’s CAC finished the day up by 0.7 percent.

U.S. stocks closed higher in volatile late-afternoon trade on Wednesday as the release of the Federal Reserve's minutes from its January meeting showed policymakers thought pausing on U.S. interest rate hikes last month posed little risk.

Dow Jones closed up by 0.26 percent, S&P 500 ended up 0.04 percent, Nasdaq finished the day up by 0.19 percent.

Treasuries Recap

U.S. Treasury yields on Wednesday ticked up modestly after the publication of minutes from the Federal Reserve's January policy meeting showed committee members were undecided on whether to hike interest rates again this year.

Immediately following the release of the minutes, longer dated yields continued the day's trajectory higher, but rose slower than shorter-dated yields, with the benchmark 10-year yield   up 0.7 basis point to 2.652 percent and the yield on the 30-year bond   last up 1.3 basis points to 3.001 percent.

Commodities Recap

Crude prices rose more than 1 percent on Wednesday to their highest level this year on hopes that oil markets will balance later this year, helped by output cuts from top producers as well as U.S. sanctions on OPEC members Iran and Venezuela.

Brent futures rose 63 cents, or 0.95 percent, to settle at $67.08 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) for delivery in March settled at $56.92 a barrel, up 83 cents, or 1.48 percent, ahead of the contract's expiry. The more active April contract settled at $57.16, up 71 cents, or 1.38 percent.

Gold rose on Wednesday, after Fed's minutes showed U.S. economy and its labor market remained strong, prompting some expectations of at least one more interest rate hike this year.

U.S. gold futures settled up 0.2 percent at $1,347.90 per ounce. Meanwhile, spot gold   edged 0.1 percent lower to $1,339.56 per ounce.
 

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