Forex trading headlines from the European morning session 21 August
News:
- Economists say Eurozone policy errors are pushing the region towards depression
- Gold loses its shine after FOMC but support noted
- India sees no need to review rule import/export rule on gold
Data:
- July 2014 UK retail sales 0.1% vs 0.4% exp m/m
- Eurozone Markit mftg Aug PMI flash 50.8 vs 51.3 exp
- German Markit mftg Aug PMI flash 52.0 vs 51.8 exp
- French Markit mftg PMI flash Aug 46.5 vs 47.8 exp
- UK PSNBR July mm GBP -1.1bln vs -2.0 bln exp
- Swiss trade balance July CHF +3.983bln vs +1.412 bln prev
- Nikkei closes up 0.85% at 15586.20
“After the Lord Mayor’s show” is the expression that comes to mind as the streets have seen a bit of sweeping and revellers catching up on sleep ahead of the next party in the shape of Yellen’s pearls of info from the Jackson Hole hoe-down tomorrow.
Mostly softer PMI from the Eurozone has given a gentle tone to the euro overall but USD sales/profit taking after last night’s FOMC Minutes have moved EURUSD up to 1.3278 from 1.3260 before returning to from whence it came. EURGBP has drifted around 0.8000 drawn by a decent size option expiry later while EURJPY has also found further gains hard to come by.
GBPUSD has decent barrier support at 1.6550 and from the off made its way higher from 1.6570 to 1.6595 before taking a little knock back to 1.6575 on slightly softer retail sales only to pick up more corp buyers in the dip and rallying to post 1.6592. Offers between 1.6600-10 so far preventing any further headway though.
USDJPY has been consolidating around 103.80 having made no serious attempt to move higher from a 103.86 open while USDCHF has also been mostly quiet drifting back from 0.9140 to 0.9118 before picking up fresh buyers.
AUDUSD and NZDUSD have been well supported around 0.9275 and 0.8375 in the general USD-softer sentiment with USDCAD also finding a lack of air into 1.1000 and has paused to catch its breath around 1.0970.
Time to pass the baton back to our friends across the pond.
