- French January flash composite PMI falls to 42.7 from final December reading of 44.6, lowest reading since March 2009
- German January flash composite PMI rises to 53.6 from final 50.3 in December, 12-month high
- Japan’s Deputy EconMin: USD/JPY at 100.00 is no problem
- SNB’s Danthine: Asked about moving swiss franc cap to 1.25/euro., says cap policy is not designed for making small adjustments
- UK PM Cameron: Britain isn’t turning its back on Europe
- Li Daokui ex PBOC adviser: China will be reluctant to ease monetary policy. China’s economic growth may slow in second half
- Spain Q4 unemployment rate 26.02%, up from 25% in Q3 and a fraction worse than Reuters’ median forecast of 26.0
- UK January CBI retail sales balance +17 from +19 in December, lowest since September but above Reuters’ median forecast of +12
- China Foreign Ministry calls for calm and restraint after North Korea nuclear test plan
- Merkel hints at European deal for Cameron - The Telegraph
The Japanese yen has seen some weakness this morning, USD/JPY up at 89.60 from early 89.35, EUR/JPY up at 119.40 from early 118.85. Comment from Deputy EconMin Nishimura, that USD/JPY at 100 is no problem, will have weighed on the yen a little.
EUR/USD little changed at 1.3325 from the 1.3310 that greeted me. The pairing saw some early action as traders reacted to firstly much weaker than expected French PMI data, and then much stronger than expected German PMI data. We got to 1.3286 after the French data, were around 1.3305 on the release of the German data, and rallied to 1.3343 after the German data.
Sell orders seen clustered 1.3350/60, buy stops through 1.3360 or 1.3365 (take your pick, slight variance in reports) Buy orders clustered 1.3250/70, sell stops through 1.3250 or 1.3240 (take your pick again, slight varaiance in reports)
When all said and done, we remain ensconsed in relatively narrow range, 1.3250-1.3400 the much-touted parameters.
Cable hardly changed at 1.5825, all eyes focused on tomorrows eagerly anticipated UK Q4 GDP data release. Barrier option interest well noted at 1.5800.
