FOREX NEWS | CURRENCY NEWS BY FOREXLIVE

EUR/USD Hits High

EUR/USD broke above the Asian highs to 1.3730. There’s nothing on the wires, looks like a short-squeeze in a thin market.

Update: There’s talk of offers in the 1.3745/55 zone.

No More Messin’ Around, It’s FOMC Time

With Europe closing, it’s time to hunker down and get ready for the Fed decision. I’ll have a preview, chatter, charts and trading ideas.

The Mess Around

European Stocks Decline

The German DAX lagged at the close in Europe, falling 2.3%

FTSE and CAD both down 1.5%

EUR Jumps, Talk of Berlusconi Resigning

The excitement continues with EUR/USD jumping 50 pips to match the overnight highs at 1.3725. There’s a rumor that Italian PM Burlusconi is planning to announce his resignation after the debt downgrade. Still, that wouldn’t justify the rally. Cable bouncing as well.

Update: Others are denying the Burlusconi rumor, and frankly, it sounds far fetched.

Stock Market Losses Accelerating

The S&P 500 falls to 1194 from 1202 at the open. Cable touched below 1.5580. Surprisingly volatile pre-Fed.

USD/JPY Nudging Higher, Order Book

Steady climb since the US stock market open and now at 76.46. Bids seen around the Sept 21 low of 76.11 with large stops below the record low of 75.94. Offers seen at 76.60/70 and more up around the Sept 21 high of 76.86.

NZD/USD Testing Lows

NZD/USD is slumping and currently testing yesterday’s lows. Nothing Bollard said was a good reason to sell. Technically, the break of 0.8164 points to a push of 0.8120 but I don’t see it happening ahead of the FOMC.

Obama Calls For Urgent Action

Speaking at the UN he says “urgent and coordinated action” on worldwide economy needed.

The era of austerity in the United States is over (it lasted about two weeks).

Existing Home Sales +7.7% in August

Consensus was +1.4%, prior -3.5%.

Sales were 5.03M compared to 4.71M expected.

Median home price down 5.1% y/y

31% of sales were distressed versus 29% in July

No one cares about existing homes sales, especially ahead of the FOMC.

ECB Changes Collateral Rules

The ECB dropped a requirement that collateral for lending is traded on a regulated market, with the exception of covered bonds. Should be easy to dump bonds on the ECB if you can value them however you like.

At the same time, the maximum amount banks can use of their own debt lowered to 5% from 10%.

Without looking at the collateral it’s hard to say anything underhanded is going on but making changes at a time like this looks suspicious to the market.