Forex trading headlines from the European morning session 2 May
News:
- AstraZeneca rejects Pfizer’s improved bid
- Russia calls for immediate halt to Ukraine military operation
- Russia says Ukraine’s punitive operation in South East region ends any hope of keeping Geneva accord alive
- Pro-Russian separatists seize control centre for Donetsk railways
- Ukrainian interior minister says one pilot killed in Slaviansk attack
Data:
- UK Markit/CIPS construction PMI 60.8 vs 62.00 exp
- Eurozone unemployment rate March 11.8% vs 11.9% exp
- Eurozone Markit mftg PMI April 53.4 vs 53.3 exp
- German Markit mftg PMI April 54.1 vs 54.2 exp
- French Markit mftg PMI April 51.2 vs 50.9 exp
- Italian Markit mftg PMI April 54.0 vs 52.8 exp
- Swiss PMI April 55.8 vs 55.5 exp
- Nikkei closes down -0.19% at 14,457.51
It was always going to be a slow session overall with the US jobs data looming large and so it’s proved but we’ve seen a few moves to keep us interested
Main mover has been the pound which has come under a little selling pressure after weaker data and Astrazeneca rejecting the latest Pfizer bid. GBPUSD has fallen from 1.6890 to 1.6875 on the former and 1.6880 to 1.6853 on the latter. EURGBP has once again held the strong bid interest at 0.8200 which has helped cap the pound across the board
EURUSD made a gain of around 15 pips to 1.3870 on better Eurozone unemployment data but we’ve spent most of the session at 1.3860-65. USDJPY had an early run up to 102.50 from 102.35 then again to 102.55 from 102.40 with EURJPY being a prime mover to 142.15 but it’s been oh so slow.
USDCHF has drifted off to 0.8788 from 0.8805 on more Ukraine rumblings with EURCHF also nudging lower to 1.2184 just ahead of the 1.2180 bids
AUDUSD has remained on the back foot and recently posted session lows of 0.9248 from 0.9265 while the kiwi is enjoying its day in the sun again and looking well supported after posting 0.8655 highs
USDCAD has chewed its way back down to 1.0955 from 1.0967 but not a lot to report.
So after a session of cleaning the office, filing your nails or going to the pub it’s almost time to strap yourself in for the main event. Whatever happens let’s hope the wait has been worthwhile
