ForexLive Americas Wrap: US Economy Rebouding… or Not

Empire Fed +10 vs -2 exp Wal-Mart warns of 'disastrous' Feb sales US Jan industrial production -0.1% vs +0.2% exp U Mich consumer sentiment 76.3 vs 74.8 exp Canadian Dec manufacturing sales -3.1% vs -0.8% exp G20 statement makes no mention of commitment not to target FX Draghi: Market conditions have improved since summer Bernanke: US economy is recovering Pianalto says Fed could taper asset purchases by year end Cyprus needs just over 16 billion euros – German press Gold hits 5-month low below $1600 S&P 500 down 2 points to 1519, down 0.1% on week GBP leads, NZD lags The euro bottomed at the outset of US trading at 1.3305. Upbeat comments from Draghi helped a recovery to 1.3365. USD/JPY surged higher on the Empire Fed, eventually jumping more than a cent. Bernanke talking about the recovery and Pianalto about tapering asset purchases added to the momentum. Technicals may have played a part as support from last Friday at 92.00/20 launched the move. The commodity currencies lagged throughout US trading. The soft manufacturing number hurt CAD, sending USD/CAD to 1.0080 which once again proved to be solid resistance. Last 1.0067. Gold hit stops on the drop below $1625. It fell as low as $1597 but has rebounded to $1608. Have a great weekend and remember that Monday is a holiday in the US.