Forex news from the European trading session - 19 January 2018

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A scrappy session that's seen cryptocurrencies consolidate Asian gains but struggle to make further advances and the pound eventually fall after some soft UK retail sales data.

No clear direction in the USD and as the week draws to a close we've seen some money coming off the table most notably in pound pairs. GBPUSD fell to 1.3911 from 1.3930 after the UK data before a softer-USD spike sent the pair up to 1.3945 but from there it's been a steady retreat down to 1.3865 after chewing through decent demand between 1.3880-00.

EURGBP spent lot of time around 0.8820 with offers/res at 0.8830 holding rallies but finally also gave way to post 0.8841 while GBPJPY has fallen to 153.47 from 154.30. Similar moves in other pound pairs.

EURUSD had a spike to 1.2296 after finally breaking 1.2280-85 but that too was short lived as saw some USD demand return to post 1.2262 with USDJPY rising to 110.68 but tempered by yen demand again. USDCHF staged a decent recovery from 0.9530 support area to test 0.9580.

USDCAD still making its mind up between 1.2400-40 while AUDUSD has also been contained but holding above 0.8000 .

US treasury yields higher with 10-year posting best levels since 2014. Oil prices have capped after a steady recovery while gold has retreated from highs of $1338.

Focus will remain on potential US govt shutdown as the stop-gap funding bill finally heads for a vote later after being postponed yesterday.

Data/releases to come: