Forex news from the European morning session 18 December 2014

News:

Data:

The volatility shown in recent sessions has continued today with the SNB cutting the LIBOR range and imposing negative rates on sight depos in what we consider to be pre-emptive strike ahead of the ECB in Jan ( see articles above)

USDCHF rallied from 0.9740 to 0.9849 before falling back all the way to 0.9760 and EURCHF from 1.2010 to 1.2098 then back to 1.2030 as CHF shorts said thank-you for the early Xmas pressies. There was wiping of feet both up and down but the moves didn’t take long to happen and we’ve spent the rest of the morning evaluating the fall-out.

GBPUSD and EURUSD both had a wobble lower at USDCHF went racing north and we saw 1.5550 and 1.2278 before a wave of buying again as first USDCHF came tumbling back down, then traders bought GBPUSD back to 1.5635 ahead of UK retail sales data with EURGBP dropping to 0.7862 from 0.7910.

EURUSD has also rallied to 1.2338 before dropping again in what has been a real roller coaster ride of a morning

AUDUSD has maintained a bid tone for most of the session but hasn’t been able to clear the 0.8200-10 hurdle while USDCAD fell to 1.1568 from 1.1640 as oil prices firmed. NZDUSD had a run up from 0.7710 to 0.7762 before fading.

So, the SNB finally delivered something after all the rhetoric, but the jury is now out again as to its impact.