Forexlive Americas FX news wrap 13 Mar: Forex rates muddle along ahead of PPI/retail sales

• Down day for the broader S&P and Nasdaq indices
• Yellen says it seems unlikely that interest rates will return to pre-pandemic lows
• Atlanta wage growth tracker for February remains at 5%
• Crude oil futures settle at $79.72
• The metals are shining today as gold, silver and copper rally
• US sells 30-year bonds at 4.331% vs 4.352% WI
• European major indices close mostly higher. German DAX unchanged
• Yellen: Has every expectation that single biggest contributor to inflation will move down
• US House of Representatives votes to divest/ban TicTok
• Weekly oil inventory data shows crude oil build of -1.536M vs 1.338M estimate
• Kickstart your FX trading for March 13 with a technical look at 3 of the major pairs.
• Tesla shares down 2.5% in the premarket after Wells Fargo downgrades to underweight
• As the NA session begins the AUD is the strongest and the JPY is the weakest
• ForexLive European FX news wrap: Yen falls as Ueda fails to convince, Bitcoin up again

The US trading day was void of economic releases. The Fed is in a blackout period ahead of the rate decision next Wednesday.

There was oil inventory data released, and it showed a surprise drawdown of -1.536M when the market was expecting a build of 1.338M. That kept oil prices supported/higher. Crude oil rose to high of $79.90 just short of the natural resistance at $80.00, before rotating back to $79.54 currently. Nevertheless, the price is still up close to $2 on the day or 2.60%.

IN the forex, the low to high ranges did extend in the US session (from very narrow ranges at the US open – see post here) but looking at all the major currency pairs vs the US, the low to high trading ranges were all less than the 22-day averages. The GBPUSD range was only 55% of the average. The USDCAD was 46%,and the NZDUSD was 54% of the month-long average.

Tomorrow, US PPI and retail sales have the potential to kick the market outside of it’s doldrums this week.

A look at the strongest to the weakest the AUD is ending the day as the strongest (it was the strongest at the start of the US session). The CHF surpassed the JPY as the weakest. The USD – which was mixed and near unchanged at the start of the day – is still mixed but lower from start of session levels.

In the US that market today, yields are ending higher despite a strong 30-year bond auction:

• 2-year yield, 4.636%, +3.8 basis points
• 5-year yield 4.196%, +4.2 basis points
• 10-year yield 4.189%, +3.5 basis points
• 30-year yield 4.341% +3.0 basis points

As mentioned crude oil is ending the day higher. Gold is also higher by $16.75 or 0.78% at $2174.50. Bitcoin is up around $1700 at $73,242.

US stocks saw the broader S&P and NASDAQ indices move lower:

• Dow industrial average rose 37.81 points or 0.10% at 39043.31
• S&P index fell -9.98 points or -0.19% at 5165.30
• NASDAQ index fell; -87.88 points or -0.54% at 16177.76

The small-cap Russell 2000 rose despite higher yields and recorded a gain of 6.233 points or 0.30% at 2071.71.

This article was written by Greg Michalowski at www.forexlive.com.