Forex trading headlines for Europe 11 April 2014
- Japan’s Aso says Growing number of companies raising wages
- Fitch raises Portugal outlook to positive
- Finland outlook revised to negative from stable, Lithuania rating raised – S&P
- PBOC’s Zhou: Asset bubbles does not mean financial sector is unhealthy
- China may make bigger adjustments if growth below normal says Zhou
- March German HICP calms nerves, 0.9% vs 0.9% exp y/y
- Spanish not so hot as inflation confirms drop into deflation zone
- Spain’s deputy finance minister Latorre says deflation risk not significant
- February French current account balance -1.4bn vs -3.9bn prior
- Japan’s Suga arranging for Amari to visit US for more trade talks
- Germany to feel the wrath of EU sanctions if current account surplus grows – AEP
- February UK construction output gets washed out -2.8% vs -1.3% exp m/m
- IEA cuts 2014 global oil demand forecast by 60k to 1.29mbpd
- Nikkei takes a beating falling 2.38% to 13960, futures attempt to recover
Ukraine news
- Russia’s Lavrov says they are ready to talk with EU,US and Ukraine on matters including gas
- EU officials will meet on Monday to discuss adding names to Ukraine-related sanctions list
- NATO’s Rasmussen says they are not discussing military action over Ukraine
- EU’s Gettinger says there’s no reason for panic over Russian energy supplies
A pretty quiet start to the European session saw PBOC top man waffling on about the usual guff but one comment seemed to go against his Chinese overlord when he mentioned that they may make a bigger adjustment if growth falls below normal. The market took no notice though as it decided to have a late lie in.
EUR/USD was snuggled up to 1.3900 with strong orders keeping it at bay but like a persistent puppy that wouldn’t let go of the toy we traded the big figure on the unchanged German HICP numbers. We weren’t done there and later on the level gave out but only 6 pips were gained. The lack of follow through soon saw buyers flushed back through 1.39 to 1.3881 and they’ve got it all to do again to get back above the round number.
GBP/USD was tight in a 20 odd pip range and not even poor UK construction data could put a reasonable dent in it.
USD/JPY ignored US stocks getting creamed, ignored bonds getting creamed, ignored the Nikkei getting creamed. While the market was looking for those moves to drag the pair around with it it was having none of it. We took a run up to 101.87 from 101.61 as Nikkei futures staged a slight turnaround bouncing 30 ticks. The move ran out of steam and we slid back to 101.50.
AUD/USD tested the downside as expected and found the key levels working their magic. The big one at 0.9350 wasn’t troubled and that gave bulls the impetus to get back in and push it back above 0.94. As of writing we’ve topped out at 0.9425
