Forex news and economic data headlines for the European session 2 May 2016
News:
- China will not resort to large stimulus measures
- Japan's Abe plans to fire a G7 version of his "3 arrows"
- ECB's Weidmann says expansive monetary policy appropriate but not last too long
- ECB's Coeure says monetary policy is boosting Eurozone growth
- German March engineering orders +18% yy
- Bitcoin creator now publicly identifies himself
- Barrier option at 1.1500 casts a shadow over EURUSD
- Oil price falls again as markets digest latest output data
- Option expiries 10am NY cut today 2 May
- More option expiries of note this week 3-6 May
- Nikkei 225 closes down -3.11% at 16,147.38
Data:
- Eurozone Markit manufacturing PMI April final 51.7 vs 51.5 exp
- Germany Markit/BME manufacturing PMI April final 51.8 vs 51.9 exp
- France Markit manufacturing PMI April final 48.0 vs 48.3 exp
- Italy Markit/ADACI manufacturing PMI April 53.9 vs 53.0 exp
- Spain Markit manufacturing PMI April 53.5 vs 53.0 exp
- Switzerland retail sales March yy real -1.3% vs -0.4% prev
- Switzerland SVME manufacturing PMI April 54.7 vs 52.9 exp
- Australia commodity index April yy -9.4% vs -15.6% prev
- Japan vehicle sales April yy +7.2% vs -3.2% prev
Plenty of data to kick off the new month but without London trading (May Day hols) it's all been a little subdued albeit not without opportunity for the intra-day trader.
After an early wobble the euro has gained most of the plaudits but with strong EURUSD option-related sell interest into 1.1500 the jury remains out. EURUSD has chewed its way higher to 1.1494 after testing 1.1450 support helped by EURGBP rebounding from 0.7825 to post 0.7865 and EURJPY 122.48 from 121.95.
USDJPY had an early spike to 106.74 on the Abe comments having found demand into 106.30 and then had a look down there again before the yen-selling cross demand lifted the pair back up through 106.60
USDCAD found support on lower oil prices and CADJPY sales but has since turned lower from 1.2560 as both those have found support while AUDUSD and NZDUSD have both enjoyed some cross-play demand after early session wobbles. AUDUSD found demand below 0.7600 but equally is running into good supply ahead of 0.7650
Equities have performed well to start the week and that has also added a little downward pressure on the euro.
Not a great deal of data to come but a few talking heads including Draghi and Jordan to keep us on our toes.
