Conclusion of Forexlive Americas FX news on May 24; The USD is moving higher. Nasdaq and S&P gain for the 5th week

As the week draws to a close, the CAD ends the day as the strongest of the major currencies. CHF is the lowest. The USD is broadly lower with modest gains against the JPY and CHF. The CAD rose despite lower-than-expected retail sales in March. However, the estimate for April was a solid 0.7%, offsetting this month’s -0.2% decline.

The USD fell, helped by more favorable consumer confidence in Michigan. Not only have confidence, expectations and the current situation increased, but inflation expectations have also fallen (click here for the full report). A CNBC analyst today warned about unreliability of the data due to political bias. Republican respondents tend to have an overly negative view of the economy and inflation compared to their Democratic counterparts. Let us first recall that confidence had fallen sharply while inflation increased. Today’s data saw these trends reverse some of the significant changes from preliminary numbers. What do you think?.

Also in the United States today, U.S. durable goods orders were higher than expected, at 0.7% versus -0.8%. However, these data are subject to significant revisions. Factory orders, which will be released in about ten days, will show revisions for durable goods. Last month, the revisions were quite significant (from 2.6% initially announced to 0.8% final).

During the trading week, against major currencies, the USD was higher. Below is an overview of the weekly performance of the major currencies against the USD:

• EUR: + 0.17%
• JPY, .+0.82%
• GBP: -0.30%
• CHF: +0.72%
• CAD: +0.3%
• AUD: +0.93%
• NZD unchanged

In the dollar market today, returns end the day with mixed results:

• 2-year yield 4.940%, +1.5 basis points
• 5-year yield 4.527%, +0.2 basements
• 10-year yield 4.466%, -0.8 basis points
• Yield at 30 years 4.572%, -0.7 basis point

For the trading week, returns are highest with sugar and the yield curve flattens the most:

• 2-year yield +11.9 basis points
• 5-year yield, +8.1 basis points
• 10-year yield +4.5 basis points
• 30-year yield +1.1 basis point

The 2-10 year spread is at -47.9 basis points, which is more negative by -0.7.4 basis points.

The 2-30 year gap is -37.7 basis points, which is a more negative -10.8 basis points.

In other markets:

• Crude oil is trading at $77.70, up $0.83 or 1.05%. For the trading week, Crude Oil price fell -$1.76 or -2.22%
• Gold fell -$79.97 or -3.31%
• Bitcoin rose by $2683
• Ethereum jumped from $648 to $3,738. This is a gain of almost 21% given expectations that an Ethereum ETF would be approved.

Monday is a public holiday in the United Kingdom and the United States. I hope everyone has a good weekend.