FX news for US trading on May 11, 2015:

  • Fed's Williams: Every FOMC meeting is on the table for a rate hike
  • Greece said to give clearance for next IMF payment
  • April 2015 US labour market conditions index -1.9% vs -0.3% prior
  • May 2015 US employment trends index 128.22 vs 127.7 prior
  • EU worried about Greece missing IMF payment - MNI
  • Varoufakis says Greece will meet tomorrow's payment obligations
  • People are getting concerned about Greek liquidity says Ireland's Noonan
  • EU's Dijjselbloem hopes for a deal before the end of June
  • EU's Dombrovskis says Greece's funding situation could put June deadline at risk
  • It might be 10 years before oil trades consistently at $100 - WSJ
  • ECB QE count: PSP 108.70bn vs 95.05bn prior
  • Eurogroup Greek statement - Much ado about nothing
  • Dijsselbloem: Greece could get partial disbursements in exchange for partial implementation
  • Varoufakis sees 'considerable convergence' with Greek creditors
  • EIA sees slower oil production in US shale regions
  • Gold down $5 to $1184
  • WTI crude down 14-cents to $59.25
  • S&P 500 down 11 points to 2105
  • GBP leads, NZD lags

The upward momentum after the election in the pound continued on Monday. It started when Europe opened and stopped at 1.5600 when Europe closed. It was a sideways chop from there but hardly any retracement. The move cleared the February high and leaves little in the way of further GBP gains.

The bond rout is a story that's growing in importance and it helped to propel USD/JPY on Monday. The move was relatively small, gaining only about 30 pips to 120.10 from 119.80 but it was important that the pair gained in a risk-averse environment.

EUR/USD was under mild pressure but it was mostly due to EUR/GBP selling. The pair briefly fell below the European low to 1.1129 but bounced back to 1.1160.

The kiwi is taking a beating as carry trades unwind on the bond rout and the speculation about rate cuts. The 2% fall in the pair seems overdone but that's the way it goes with the kiwi and there is little support on the chart.

The Australian dollar didn't get any help despite the China rate cut and a pair of efforts to climb above 0.7920 in US trading were rebuffed and it closed down at 0.7890.