Forex news for US trading June 18, 2015:

  • May 2015 US CPI 0.0% vs +0.1% exp y/y
  • US Q1 current account deficit $113.3B vs $117.3B expected
  • June 2015 US Philly Fed business optimism index 15.2 vs 8.0 exp
  • Initial jobless claims 267K vs 277K expected
  • US May leading index +0.7% vs +0.4% expected
  • SNB's Jordan says it's risky being long of CHF
  • Al-Naimi says Saudi Arabia has 1.5m to 2m barrels per day of spare capacity
  • IMF sees euro at a levels 'moderately weaker' than fundamentals

Greece:

  • German newspaper Zeit reported that the EU and ECB are about to extend an offer to Greece that would extend the bailout program until December
  • Harsh denial from EU diplomats about special Greek proposal rumor
  • Greek fin min Varoufakis touts new proposal from Athens
  • Slovak finance minister says there is a new proposal from Greece but no agreement yet
  • Dijsselbloem says it's 'unthinkable' and 'impossible' to get new Greek deal before month end
  • Dijsselbloem says Greece moving in direction of euro exit
  • French diplomat: Next three days must be used to finalize and Greek deal
  • Eurogroup press conference: No agreement in sight
  • ECB told Eurogroup it wasn't sure Greek banks would open Monday

Markets:

  • S&P 500 climbs above June 11 high closes up 21 points to 2121
  • Nasdaq hits all time high at 5143
  • Gold up $16 to $2101
  • WTI crude up 50-cents to $60.42
  • US 10-year yields up 1.6 bps to 2.33%
  • AUD leads, NZD lags

Here's what happened to the euro late in the day. It started with the Zeit report. It was a major twist and said the EU/ECB were working to cut out the IMF and forge a new deal with Greece. If true it would have been a major shocker and it sent the euro to a brief session high at 1.1436. It quickly came off, it might have been skepticism or it might have been euro selling on the idea that the Eurozone is better off without Greece. In any case, the selling accelerated when Merkel quickly said she didn't know about any new proposal and the euro dropped to 1.1340 but stayed above the Asian low. From there Greece did present their new proposal around the time the Eurogroup meeting ended. That meeting accomplished nothing but a leaders' summit was scheduled for Monday in Greece. We're waiting now for reactions to the latest Greek proposal. EUR/USD at 1.1371.

The early theme was broad USD selling on the follow-through from the Fed and a weak CPI report. It was finally halted by a better Philly Fed but not before USD/JPY took out some bids at 122.50. The dollar started a grinding retracement from there up to 123.17. Last at 122.92.

Cable is an unstoppable machine at the moment. Another 50 pips today and gains in 8 of 9 days totalling 670 pips. Fresh highs since November.

USD/CAD went for a bit of a ride and oil wasn't a big factor. The pair was under heavy selling pressure down more than a cent to 1.2125 where it found some good bids and then started a complete retracement. We finish the day virtually flat.

The Aussie was able to hang onto some solid gains. The high was 0.7850 but the US dollar recovered about 50 pips late in the day in this pair was no different as it fell back to 0.7802.

Hope you're not sick of Greece just yet!