POWER: Spanish Hydro Stocks Rise Further
Spanish hydropower reserves last week - calendar week 17 – increased by 0.8 percentage points to 76.4% of capacity, a new 2025 high, data from Spain’s Environmental Ministry showed.
- Stocks increased by 1.6 points the week prior.
- The surplus to the five-year average rose on the week to 17.9 points, from 17.3 points the week before.
- Stocks also rose 10.5 points above 2024 levels, from a surplus of 9 points the week before.
- Power demand in Spain increased by 568MW last week to 23.87GW.
- Nuclear generation in Spain last week increased by 207MW to 3.25GW.
- Spanish hydropower generation from reservoirs rose by 506MW last week to 3.87GW. Output from pumped storage rose by 323MW to 1.02GW, while run-of-river generation was broadly stable at 1.5GW.
- Gas-fired power generation rose last week by 335MW to 4.29GW.
- Wind generation, in contract, fell by 3.64GW to 4.5GW, while solar PV output rose to 7.92GW, from 5.52GW the week before.
- Precipitation in Huesca, near Spain’s hydro-intensive region, stood at 3.6mm last week, below the seasonal average of 12.1mm.
- Looking ahead, the latest ECMWF forecast suggests precipitation in Huesca to rise to 16.6mm this week, above the seasonal average of 10.8mm.
- Spain’s national power blackout on Monday as well as the Labour Day holiday on 1 May is expected to power production and consumption for this week.
- Wind output in Spain for the remainder of this week (Wed-Sun) is forecast at 2.39GW to 10.64GW during base-load hours, while solar PV output is forecast at 7.92GW to 10.38GW during peak load according to SpotRenewables.
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USDCAD TECHS: Bullish Outlook
- RES 4: 1.4700 Round number resistance
- RES 3: 1.4641 76.4% retracement of the Feb 3 - 14 bear leg
- RES 2: 1.4452/4543 High Mar 13 / 4 and a bull trigger
- RES 1: 1.4402 High Mar 20
- PRICE: 1.4292 @ 16:50 GMT Mar 28
- SUP 1: 1.4235 Low Mar 26 and a key near-term support
- SUP 2: 1.4151/4107 Low Feb 14 / 50.0% of Sep 25 - Feb 3 bull run
- SUP 3: 1.4011 Low Dec 5 ‘24
- SUP 4: 1.3944 61.8% retracement of the Sep 25 ‘24 - Feb 3 bull cycle
USDCAD traded through support at 1.4242 on Wednesday but has recovered. A return lower and clearance of this level would undermine the bull theme and instead highlight potential for a test of 1.4151, the Feb 14 low and a bear trigger. Moving average studies continue to highlight a dominant uptrend. A reversal higher would refocus attention on the bull trigger at 1.4543, the Mar 4 high. First resistance is 1.4402, the Mar 20 high.
US FISCAL: Debt Limit "Extraordinary Measures" Pick Up, But Cash Dipping Pre-Tax
Treasury data shows that there were $207B of "extraordinary measures" available to circumvent hitting the debt limit as of Wednesday Mar 26.
- That's the most since Jan 27th and up from $163B a week earlier, from a total $376B available.
- However, Treasury cash in the TGA fell to $316B as of the 26th (and was down to $280B on Thursday), meaning there were a combined $523B of resources available to avert the debt limit, the lowest since the impasse began in January (and half of the starting amount of just over $1T).
- The next couple of weeks will be very important for Treasury, as they represent the biggest tax take of the year. The Congressional Budget Office reported this week that per its estimates "if the debt limit [$36.1T] remains unchanged, the government's ability to borrow using extraordinary measures will probably be exhausted in August or September 2025." Treasury wrote to Congress this month that they would be able to provide an update on the x-date in the first half of May, after the conclusion of tax season.
AUDUSD TECHS: Remains Above Support
- RES 4: 0.6429 High Dec 12 ‘24
- RES 3: 0.6414 38.2% retracement of the Sep 30 ‘24 - Feb 3 bear leg
- RES 2: 0.6409 High Feb 21 and a bull trigger
- RES 1: 0.6391 High Mar 17 / 18
- PRICE: 0.6291 @ 16:46 GMT Mar 28
- SUP 1: 0.6258 Low Mar 21
- SUP 2: 0.6187 Low Feb 4
- SUP 3: 0.6171/6088 Low Feb 4 / 3 and a key support
- SUP 4: 0.6045 1.500 proj of the Sep 30 - Nov 6 - 7 price swing
AUDUSD is unchanged. A short-term bull theme is intact and the latest move down appears corrective. Key short-term support to watch is 0.6187, the Mar 4 low. Clearance of this level would reinstate a bear threat. First support is at 0.6258, the Mar 21 low. A stronger recovery would refocus attention on 0.6409, the Feb 21 high. Clearance of this hurdle would strengthen the bull cycle and resume the uptrend that started Feb 3.
