Aggressive Inflow Into U.S. Sovereigns Squeezed FX

 | Oct 16, 2014 05:02AM ET

Market Brief

The softness in September US retail sales data pushed USD slightly lower in New York yesterday, but the big move came from heavy leveraged inflow into US 10-years according to rumors on the market. The aggressive decline in U.S. 10-Year yields squeezed heavily the FX trading. Commodity and EM currencies took a breather as the US 10-year yields fell below 2.0% (quick spike to 1.8622) for the first time in over a year. USD broadly pares losses today.

EUR/USD spiked to 1.2886, GBP/USD hit 1.6068 as US yields dropped sharply. The rally remained short-lived. The sentiment in euro and pound remains negative given the soft recovery concerns. The strong labor data out of the UK failed to revive GBP-bulls yesterday. Given the soft inflation dynamics, markets now price in delay in BoE’s first rate hike. Dovish shift in expectations should further weigh on GBP-complex. The strength in EUR/USD is unconvincing before the Euro-zone CPI report (due at 09:00 GMT). Soft inflation reading should reinforce the top-selling strategies.

USD/JPY sold-off to 105.23 (lowest since Sep 8th) approaching the most its ascending daily Ichimoku cloud cover (104.13/99) since August. The Nikkei stocks lost 2.22% in Tokyo. The bias on JPY crosses remains negative given the discomfort regarding the rapid JPY decline. There is room for more downside correction. USD/JPY calls are seen at 104.50/105.50 pre-weekend. EUR/JPY tests 135.00-support. Large vanilla put seen at 136.50, more resistance presumed at daily cloud (137.14/51).