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Market Brief, North America

Signs of US resilience lift dollar

The dollar is strengthening and Treasury yields are pushing higher after yesterday’s raft of second-tier data releases pointed to continued outperformance in the US economy relative to its rivals.  Durable goods orders topped expectations in May, posting a 1.7 percent gain against a forecast -0.9 percent decline. New home sales jumped 12.2 percent, well above the predicted 1.2-percent gain. And consumer confidence surged, smashing market forecasts and suggesting that cooling inflation is intersecting with strong labour markets to bolster optimism about the economy’s direction. The Conference Board’s index jumped to 109.7, beating consensus estimates that were set closer to 102. An...

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Canadian dollar falls as inflation slows

Canadian inflation decelerated in May, and most underlying price indicators continued to soften, helping push the Bank of Canada back onto a data-dependent footing. Data released by Statistics Canada this morning showed the Consumer Price Index rising 3.4 percent on a year-over-year basis in May, down sharply from the 4,4 percent increase recorded in April, and perfectly in line with consensus expectations. On a month-over-month basis, the change climbed to 0.4 percent – again aligning with market forecasts. Base-year effects saw gasoline prices fall -18.3 percent year-over-year, and the energy sub-index also dropped 12.4 percent. Food prices slowed their climb, up 9...

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Veni, Vidi, Retreat-y

This weekend’s baffling march on Moscow by the Wagner Group of mercenaries ended without any appreciable impact on global energy prices or broader financial markets. Both the West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude benchmarks are essentially unchanged, equity futures look incrementally softer, and the VIX “fear index” is holding near Friday’s post-pandemic lows. The yen is modestly stronger after Japanese officials stepped up currency jawboning efforts last night, with Masato Kanda, Vice Minister of Finance for International Affairs, warning that exchange rate moves had become “one-sided” and that he wouldn’t “rule out any options” in dealing with it – language that has...

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Risk appetite falls on accumulating evidence of global economic slowdown

The dollar is staging a broad-based recovery this morning after a raft of purchasing manager surveys showed activity slowing sharply across a range of global economies. Data published by S&P this morning provided evidence of decelerating growth in Australia, Japan, the UK and the euro area, with the all-important services sector joining manufacturing in showing signs of strain in every major country. In the euro area, the headline purchasing manager index dropped to 50.3 in June from 52.5 in the prior month, narrowly avoiding contraction and hitting a five-month low as the strike-plagued French economy deteriorated and the German factory sector remained depressed. European yields fell...

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Markets weaken as Bank of England delivers another hawkish surprise

The British pound is consolidating gains after the Bank of England joined its Commonwealth counterparts in wrongfooting markets with a bigger-than-expected half-point hike at this morning’s meeting. Responding to “material news” of an acceleration in wages and consumer prices, the Monetary Policy Committee voted seven to two in favour of raising rates to the highest levels since 2008, with Governor Bailey saying “Bringing inflation down is our absolute priority”. From today’s 5 percent, traders now expect the Bank Rate to peak above 6 percent in early 2024. This should, in theory, generate a lot of carry support for the pound – speculators...

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