Forex trading headlines from the European morning session 16 May
News:
- EU’s Barnier says that non EU members won’t be left out in the cold by banking union
- PBOC making plans to expand lending facilities
- China bans banks for accepting 3rd-party guarantees for interbank business
- ECB’s Coeure says Europe fixed its banks too late in the process
- Modi wins landslide victory in Indian elections
- UN human rights monitors find “alarming deterioration” in East Ukraine
Data:
- March eurozone trade balance €17.1bn vs €15.5bn exp
- Japanese industrial output March revision m/m +0.7% vs +0.3% exp
- French Q1 NFPs March q/q -0.1% v +0.1% prev
- Italian global trade balance EUR +3.873 bln vs +2.629 bln prev
- Nikkei closes down 1.41% at 14,096.59
- Shanghai Composite Index closes up 0.08% at 2026.25
Softly softly has been the approach in this session and we have seen both EURUSD and GBPUSD trying to further their gains only to be turned back down by a raft of offers, technical resistance, and lower US bond yields.
EURUSD was the first to take on the strong offers at 1.3725-30 from 1.3707 followed by GBPUSD through the first wave at 1.6810 as EURGBP turned lower from 0.8170 to 0.8160. But in the end both core pairs were happy to retreat without too much of a fight and we’ve seen 1.3686 from 1.3726 and 1.6787 from 1.6812 before finding buyers again.
USDJPY enjoyed a reprieve from 101.40 t0 101.60 as the Nikkei closed near session highs and then by generally weaker USD tones but we’ve seen a move back to 101.38 prompting USD sales again elsewhere.
USDCHF had a quick look around 0.8900 but has found a few bids again but going nowhere fast, similarly EURCHF at 1.2208 after its retreat from the strong 1.2230 resistance o/n.
USDCAD continues in its mission to keep out of the limelight between 1.0865-85 hemmed in by large option expiries and AUDUSD failed once again to really threaten the strong bids between 0.9320-30 stopping at 0.9336 before rallying around 0.9360.
It’s been an interesting week but once again we leave it with just as many questions as answers.
