Commodites sliding

Funny day. Commodities are melting down all of a sudden. Oil was above $83 earlier in the day; now were down a buck, down to $81.15. Gold is down at $1100 support again…

No clue what to blame it all on, though it does suggest risk aversion.

US mega-bank dumping USD/JPY

Traders report a major American bank is selling USD/JPY heavily, pushing the pair from the mid-90.70s to the 90.30s.

Not a fun hour for many in the market as cable shorts get squeezed and USD/JPY longs get clubbed…

UPDATE: A model fund is now being blamed for the USD/JPY decline, through the US bank..

So much for 1.5195

Cable has taken flight, putting the wood to shorts and filling a gap on the charts dating back to the end of February. Next resistance is at 1.5250. We been as high as 1.5117 so far.

Cable perky; Resistance at 1.5195

Looks like cable was in demand at the 16:00 GMT fixing as it rebounded from a dip into the 1.5120s to make a new session high in the last few minutes. 1.5195 is solid resistance just over head.

Rehn: Greek collapse would lead to loss of EU credibility

Gee, ya think?

It is hard to imagine, but the EU economics commissioner is speculating on the impact on the EU of a collapse in Greece.

Never speculate, Olli. Speculators are evil…

Decent Aussie buying

Traders report seeing good-sized buying of AUD/USD in the 0.9150 area but they came fairly easily, suggesting the market still sits quite long. More buying is rumored at the 16:00 GMT fixing. If we don’t rally, we could be due for a bit of a downside shake out.

We stalled earlier in the session at 0.9198 . A break below 0.9115 should trigger stops and perhaps signal a near-term AUD/USD top.

Central bank buys pullback in Cable

Traders report a central bank has been a buyer on the most recent pullback in cable, buying in the 1.5130s.

A break back below the 1.5100 level will likely set off another round of profit-taking as disappointed longs cut-out before the weekend. We trade now at 1.5123.

Stocks turn lower; EUR losing bid

Looks like the profit-taking ahead of the weekend has begun. EUR/USD has fallen back through 1.3736 and EUR/JPY is taking a breather after another stall ahead of 125.23.

USD/JPY is suffering a set back after ringing the register on the move up through 91.00. There had to be a nice batch of stops built up in recent days above that level…90.70/75 is first support followed by 90.20. Large stops are seen below 90.20.

EUR/USD bids are seen around 1.3705/10, traders say.

Business inventories unchanged in January

These are important for economists as inventories make up a big chunk of the GDP calculation.

USD/JPY edges through 91.00, absorbing exporter sales

USD/JPY has edged through the 91.00 level, absorbing solid sales from Japanese exporters. Further minor resistance lay overhead at the 91.10/15 area.