ForexLive Americas wrap: Oil drops at quarter-end via ForexLive

Forex headlines for Sept 30, 2014:

• Canadian July GDP 0.0% vs +0.3% expected
• Sept Chicago PMI 60.5 vs 62.0 expected
• September 2014 US consumer confidence 86.0 vs 92.5 exp
• July 2014 US Case Shiller home price index -0.5% vs 0.0% exp m/m
• Draghi pushing to include Greek and Cypriot junk bonds in ABS plan – FT
• Italy GDP to fall 0.3% in 2014 – Finance Minister
• EBA says some banks will fail the stress tests
• BOC's Cote: Canada still at risk from sharp housing correction
• Canada's Oliver says firms are not splashing the cash
• Miles: Still useful for BOE to stay future rate rises will probably be gradual
• Russia considering capital controls – report
• Russian central bank officially denies capital controls
• Russian rouble hits all-time low
• September 2014 US Dallas Fed Texas service sector outlook 27.5 vs 22.8 prior
• Catalonia backs down on independence vote
• IMF Q2 report on FX reserves
• Gold down $6 to $1209
• WTI crude down $3.17 to $91.41
• S&P 500 down 5 points to 1972
• On the month, S&P 500 down 1.5%
• On the quarter, S&P 500 up 0.6%
• NZD leads, EUR lags

Expect the unexpected at quarter-end. A single theme rarely captivates the market at quarter end as flows slush around and markets move with little justification.

But a few headlines caused moves on Tuesday. The Canadian dollar was hit by the trio of GDP, Cote and falling oil prices and that pushed USD/CAD to 1.1220 where it ran into corporate and real money offers. That's a cycle high but for all the bad news, CAD held up relatively well.

The Russian news put some panic trades in markets, boosting Treasuries and safe havens while scorching the rouble. Naturally it was denied but it will do the rounds again in time.

The soft Chicago and consumer confidence numbers gave a few players a reason to unload US dollars and that was generally the trend in the afternoon, although it hardly made a dent in the huge Sept gains for the buck.

EUR/USD fell as low as 1.2570 but crawled back to 1.2630. USD/JPY made it through Sept without hitting 1.1000, touching 1.0985 today. Last at 1.0965.

The big mover was oil. After hitting $94.90 oil collapsed down to $90.86, partly on better OPEC production but there was also talk of a fund liquidation. It was even worse for brent as it fell below $95 for the first time in two years.

But it wasn't just crude, silver fell 3.2% and copper was down $1.50.

posted via ForexLive