Forex news for European trading October 16 2014
News:
- Merkel says sanctions against Russia do not preclude dialogue
- Swiss government sees lower growth and steady inflation
- BOJ’s Iwata says monetary easing is succeeding
- BOJ policy to remain largely unchanged at 31 Oct meeting
- Barroso sees no reason for panic or alarm regarding financial markets
- ECB hasn’t decided on Greek haircut yet
- EU sees strong evidence that Greece has turned a corner
- Haircut on collateral of Greek banks reduced by ECB
- IMF’s Vinals says only 60% of banks globally are strong enough to make a reasonable rate of return
- Russia to begin forex repos on Oct 27
- French econ minister Macro says US is the sole engine of global growth
- Central bank of Russia raises rouble corridor again
Data:
- Eurozone CPI Sept mm +0.4% vs +0.4% exp
- Eurozone trade balance Aug mm SA EUR +15.8bln vs +13.3 bln exp
- Italian global trade balance AUG EUR +2.056bln vs +1.074bln prev
- Nikkei closes down -2.22% at 14,738.38
Another roller coaster session that started off in rather sombre/quiet/apprehensive mode as traders tried to pick the bones out of yesterday’s fun and games
With European equity markets opening firmer we saw both euro and pound in decent shape with EURUSD comfortable around 1.2800-10 and GBPUSD up around 1.6020. Elsewhere all was relative calm too.
But then came the turnaround as equities and European bonds fell with Greek yields rising rapidly and it wasn’t long before the panic set in once again and rapid falls that saw GBPUSD down to 1.5960 and EURUSD 1.2740. Other pairs followed suit with AUDUSD down to 0.8688 and USDCAD up to 1.1363.
We then had another slump in rapid time that saw EURUSD test 1.2705 and GBPUSD 1.5940 before a turn back up just as quickly with the pairs at 1.2758 and 1.5995 as I type with AUDUSD at 0.8717 and USDCAD 1.1335
Yen pairs continued their slide which limited USDJPY rallies to 105.70 and saw EURJPY down to 134.10 while USDCHF also found rallies limited by cross selling but still had its own sharp spike to 0.9480 from 0.9425 as EURUSD tumbled and EURCHF stuck around the lows of 1.2055-60 before then retreating to 0.9450.
These are fractious times and the fickle world of forex is not a place for the faint hearted or foolhardy. Let’s see what the rest of the day brings
